Societal Heavy Drinking and Suicide Mortality among Russian Youth

Research has found an aggregate association between heavy drinking and suicide rates in general, and in Russia specifically. Alcohol is one of the most serious drug problems facing Russian youth, yet the aggregate alcohol-suicide association has not been tested for this population. Aggregate mortality data for Russian regions (n = 78) for the year 2000 were used to measure youth (age 10–19) suicides and a proxy for societal heavy drinking. We employed the negative binomial estimator to test the heavy societal drinking-youth suicide hypothesis, controlling for other structural factors thought to influence suicide rates. The results showed a positive and significant association between the two for overall, male, and female rates. These results are consistent with studies of alcohol and suicide in Russia, suggesting youth suicide rates are influenced by levels of heavy drinking among youth and those close to them.