Historic & demographic

These risk factors (from the AAS¹) all exist by virtue of things that cannot be changed, as they either occur by birth, or as a result of past events:

• Demographics (people in these categories all have statistically higher suicide rates): male (almost four times as many males as females die by suicide², although females make more attempts than men), older age (suicide rates for those aged 65 or over are 40% higher than for the population in general²), separation or divorce, early widowhood

• History of suicide attempts (someone who has tried to commit suicide once has a much greater likelihood of trying again)

• Prior thoughts about suicide (if someone has thought about suicide once, they are likely to think about it again, or act on those thoughts)

• Family history of suicide or attempted suicide

• Parental history of (if any of these happened to parents, then suicide risk is increased for the children):

  • Violence

  • Substance abuse (drugs or alcohol)

  • Hospitalisation for major psychiatric disorder

  • Divorce

• History of trauma or abuse (physical or sexual)

• History of psychiatric hospitalisation

• History of frequent mobility (i.e. moving towns, cities or countries frequently)

• History of violent behaviour

• History of impulsive/reckless behaviour (suicide is often an impulse act, so those prone to acting impulsively are more at risk of committing suicide)