Abstract
Much attention of late has been drawn to the tragedy of suicide among the young, and this kind of event is truly tragic, because life expectancy is then greatest in terms of both the interval of years and the diversity of experience that should await them. Shocking descriptive statistics, as suicide is a major cause of death in the early 20s and is the second or third major cause of death in adolescence, are truly appalling. Nonetheless, the relative neglect of suicide during the midlife period appears unwarranted. For example, Maris (1987) has raised the spectral worry that the high suicide rates of the baby boomers during adolescence and early adulthood are likely to carry over to the midlife period. This would result in truly alarming suicide rates for this generation as it moves into the latter half of life.
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Balance, W.D.G., Leenaars, A.A. (1991). Suicide in Middle Adulthood. In: Leenaars, A.A. (eds) Life Span Perspectives of Suicide. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0724-0_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0724-0_11
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