“It’s
really stunning to see such a large increase in suicide rates affecting
virtually every age group,” said Katherine Hempstead, senior adviser for health
care at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who has identified a link between suicides in
middle age and rising rates of distress about jobs and personal finances.
The data analysis
provided fresh evidence of suffering among white Americans. Recent
research has
highlighted the plight of less educated whites, showing surges
in deaths from drug overdoses, suicides, liver
disease and
alcohol poisoning, particularly among those with a high school education or
less.
The new report did not break down suicide rates by education, but
researchers who reviewed the analysis said the patterns in age and race were
consistent with that recent research and painted a picture of desperation for
many in American society.
White middle-aged women had an increase of 80 percent.
“This is part of the
larger emerging pattern of evidence of the links between poverty, hopelessness
and health,” said Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard and
the author of “Our Kids,” an investigation of new class divisions in America.
Our ministry trains mentors, ministers, lay leaders, families and friends to help people in distress. Christians have many good support systems.
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