From the Maryland Population Research Center
"Despite both homicide and suicide being identified as public health global concerns, the relationship between these social phenomena is not well understood. We use the case of Mexico, a country that experienced a dramatic increase in homicide after a shift in drug-enforcement policy in 2006, to evaluate the relationship between community violence and suicide. Our analysis relies on geo-linked death certificates microdata for the entire national territory to assess the association between homicide rates and suicide rates at the municipality level for the 2000-2019 period. We find evidence of positive associations between homicide rates and suicide within six months of exposure to high homicide levels, and especially in the period immediately after homicide spikes relative to the violence baseline in the previous three years. These surges in suicide are driven by auto-inflicted strangulation and firearm injuries. No changes in suicide were identified after more than six months of exposure to high homicide levels, or after sustained exposure to increasing homicides. Our results are consistent with violence spikes temporarily triggering suicide attempts among individuals with underlying suicidal ideation, possibly by causing acute fear, stress, and uncertainty in the period immediately surrounding drastic surges in violence."
Mónica Caudillo is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at the University of Maryland, College Park.
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