hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath) (09/23/85)
In article <2356@sdcrdcf.UUCP> barryg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Lee Gold) writes: >60 Minutes recently had a rather biased segment on Dungeons and Dragons as >a possible trigger of teen-age suicide. I listened carefully and managed >to come up with two facts admidst all the anecdotal, unsubstantiated >generalizations: > 1. About three millions youngsters play D&D > 2. 60 Minutes did a LOT of research and came up with 28 suicides >that might have been related to D&D over FIVE years. > >Does anyone out there know what the average US teenage suicide rate per >million is? I'd like to know if D&D players are higher or lower than >average. I just called the L.A. Suicide Prevention Center and got some figures for L.A. County for fiscal year '79/'80 (best they could do on short notice). During that period, out of 1088 total suicides defined as such by the County Coroner's office, 64 were teenagers. Figuring the population of the county then as roughly 5 million (?) with 19% of that between 11 and 19 (according to a professional demographer friend of mine) that's an annualized rate of, roughly, 6.74 per hundred thousand. 60 Minutes' figures give an annualized rate of .19 per hundred thousand (ignoring the probability that some of their cases would have committed suicide anyway). That would make D&D players less likely to suicide than the average teen- ager by a factor of 35 to 1. -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe) Citicorp(+)TTI Common Sense is what tells you that a ten 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. pound weight falls ten times as fast as a Santa Monica, CA 90405 one pound weight. (213) 450-9111, ext. 2483 {philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex}!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe
hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath) (09/27/85)
I'm following up my own article after doing a little more research. I've been looking at national suicide figures for 1981 (latest available) as published in the _Statistical Abstract of the United States_, a book put out by the Bureau of the Census. Unfortunately, their age breakdown doesn't coincide with the 10 to 19 year definition of teenagers. However, any way you look at the stats, D&D players appear to be a lower risk for suicide. The suicide rate for ages 15 - 24 over the period 1961 - 1981 is 12.3 per 100,000. Rates per 100,000 broken down by sex and age for 1981 (caucasians): age male female 5-14 .8 .3 15-24 21.1 3.8 For comparison with 60 Minutes' figures see below. Did anyone get 60 Minutes' figures broken down by age? I missed the show because I was playing D&D when it aired ( :-) does that make me an iron?). > ... 60 Minutes' figures give an annualized rate of .19 per hundred >thousand (ignoring the probability that some of their cases would have >committed suicide anyway). ... -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe) Citicorp(+)TTI Common Sense is what tells you that a ten 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. pound weight falls ten times as fast as a Santa Monica, CA 90405 one pound weight. (213) 450-9111, ext. 2483 {philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex}!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe
nazgul@apollo.uucp (Kee Hinckley) (10/03/85)
I don't have any figures for suicides (my father works in that area and I would ask him, but he's on vacation) but I would say that 12.3 per 100,000 is definitely low. The problem is that teenage suicides have been increasing dramatically in the past decade, so a figure from 1961 to 1981 is not a good reflection of what is happening currently. The only thing I know is that people have been refering to it as being of 'epidemic' proportions. -kee ...decvax!wanginst!apollo!nazgul