How Americans Kill Themselves

Firearms, hanging, poisoning When Americans do take their own lives, they primarily do so by one of three methods: firearms, hanging, or poisoning. About nine in ten men and women use one of them. Last year, a team of researchers primarily based out of the University of Texas delved into the data on suicide in the hopes of identifying trends that could lead to useful interventions to save lives. The researchers made use of the National Violent Death Reporting System, specifically looking at data on 94,454 U.S. adult suicides between 2017 and 2019. They found that 54.7% of men and 30% of women who died by suicide used firearms, 28.4% of men and 28.5% of women hanged themselves, and 9% of men and 32.1% of women died by poisoning. Other methods like cutting, jumping from heights, running in front of a vehicle, drowning, and electrocution were used in the remaining cases. As prior studies have revealed, firearms and hanging are highly lethal methods of self-harm, resulting in death about 89.7% and 84.5% of the time. Suicide attempts by poisoning only result in death about 8% of the time when imbibing drugs or liquids and 56.6% of the time when inhaling gases. Firearm suicides are more impulsive The researchers found that firearm suicide deaths were higher in states with a greater prevalence of gun ownership, and more specifically among people from the southern U.S. and people with a history of military service. Firearm suicides also tended to be more impulsive than those from other methods. Victims shot themselves following a sudden life shock such as an eviction, loss of employment, or relationship fight.