One in six people who die by suicide were dependent on disability benefits at the time of death. One in ten received long term unemployment benefits. Little is known, however, about socio-economical changes and events that occur while received receiving benefits, leading up to the suicide.
In the current study, we evaluate longitudinal trajectories of selected socio-economical parameters of interest within a sample of suicide victims who depended on benefits at time of death, and compare these to a matched sample (on sex, age, and benefits) of people who did not die by suicide. We considered the following changes and life events to be of particular interest, among others: entering social benefits (disability, unemployment (long and short term), sick leave, changes in home ownership, gaining/losing rental support, change in address, an increase or decrease in income, an increase/decrease of debts for low earners, changes in marital status, the entering or leaving of mental healthcare, visits to the general practitioner, hospital costs, a suicide in the household, a death in the household, children moving out.
Data will span 5 years prior to suicide (or a random period of 5 years for the healthy sample). We will identify data-driven “archetypes”, i.e. people that are central in clusters of similar trajectories of behaviour who have an increased risk of suicide. This will in turn allow us to more effectively target suicide prevention strategies.
Full results will be presented at the conference.