Life Span Perspectives of Suicide

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Introduction

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. The End of Development

      • John Benjafield

      Pages 3-15

   3. A Brief Introduction to the Stages of Development

      • David Lester

      Pages 17-24

   4. The Developmental Perspective of Suicide

      • Ronald W. Maris

      Pages 25-38

   5. The Commonalities of Suicide across the Life Span

      • Edwin S. Shneidman

      Pages 39-52

3. Epidemiology

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 53-53

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   2. Epidemiology of Suicide in the United States

      • John L. McIntosh

      Pages 55-69

   3. Suicide across the Life Span

      • David Lester

      Pages 71-80

   4. Suicide at Symbolic Ages

      • David P. Phillips, Daniel G. Smith

      Pages 81-92

4. Suicide by Time-Lines

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 93-93

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   2. Suicide in the School-Age Child and Adolescent

      • Antoon A. Leenaars, Susanne Wenckstern

      Pages 95-107

   3. Child and Adolescent Suicide

      • Alan L. Berman

      Pages 109-120

   4. Suicide in the Young Adult

      • Antoon A. Leenaars

      Pages 121-136

   5. Suicide in Middle Adulthood

      • W. D. G. Balance, Antoon A. Leenaars

      Pages 137-151

   6. Suicide and the Elderly

      • Joseph Richman

      Pages 153-167

5. Correlates of Suicide

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 169-169

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   2. Biological Correlates of Suicide across the Life Span

      • Jerome A. Motto, Victor I. Reus

      Pages 171-186

   3. Social Correlates of Suicide by Age

      • Steven Stack

      Pages 187-213

   4. Suicide in Different Ages from a Cross-Cultural Perspective

      • Dorothy Counts

      Pages 215-228

In recent years, a great deal of interest has been focused on suicide in the elderly and in the young. However, in line with modem trends in psychology, sociology, psychiatry, anthropology, and other human health fields, interest has now shifted to suicide across the life span, from childhood through adulthood to old age. This book has been conceptualized within this developing tradition. There are various ways in which life's timelines can be conceptualized. Developmental theory, we believe, should be open-ended. This has widened-and will continue to widen-our understanding of many complicated human acts including suicide. Though suicide is in many ways the same across the entire life span, understanding the time-lines in the suicidal process is imperative. To do so, however, is, we believe, challenging. In this volume, we attempt to engage in the process of understanding suicide from a developmental perspective. To do this, we have been fortunate to obtain the cooperation of a highly competent group of contributors. One interesting footnote to our list of authorities is that they represent suicidologists from across the life span-a few who are at the beginning of their careers, a large number in their middle years, and a few who are in the Indian summer of their professional lives.

• epidemiology
• prevention
• psychiatry
• psychology
• suicide

• Private Practice, Windsor, Canada

  Antoon A. Leenaars

Policies and ethics