Associations between marital and educational status and risk of completed suicide in Hungary

Abstract Background Suicide rates in Hungary are notoriously high. According to the literature, marital and educational status are associated with suicidal behaviour and these associations are somewhat influenced by gender. Since in Hungary these associations have not yet been investigated by means of large-scale multivariate epidemiological studies we aimed to investigate these in the current paper. Method Census data on marital and educational status, age and gender from 1980, 1990, 2001 and 2011 were used for the general population. Corresponding data from the same years for suicide victims derived from the Hungarian Demographic Register. Suicide victims younger than 20 years were excluded. Negative binomial regression analyses were used to reveal the effects of the above variables on suicide. All statistical procedures were conducted using Stata 12 software (StataCorp. 2011). Results Female gender, young age, higher educational attainment and marriage were significantly associated with decreased risks of suicide. Intriguingly, effects of educational and marital status on suicide were stronger in males. Limitations Data on the length of the periods between changes in marital status and suicides were unavailable. Our four categories are not suitable to cover the whole gamut of marital statuses in a modern society (e.g. we did not have a specific category for people living in cohabitation). Ecological study design. Conclusion We found that in Hungary between 1980 and 2011 the effects of some frequently investigated societal factors (e.g. educational and marital status) on suicide risk were very similar to those found in the majority of other countries. The effects of studied determinants of suicide have not changed dramatically over the past three decades in Hungary.