Table 1.

Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of cases of suicide attempters

		Male(N = 126)	Female(N = 194)	Analysis
		N (%)	N (%)	χ	df	P-value
Age
	< 20	4 (3)	14 (7)			n.s.
	20–29	31 (25)	75 (39)			n.s.
	30–39	29 (23)	46 (24)			n.s.
	40–49	20 (16)	24 (12)			n.s.
	50–59	23 (18)	15 (8)	8.1	1	< 0.01
	60–64	6 (5)	5 (3)			n.s.
	65 ≧	13 (10)	15 (8)			n.s.
	Median	39.0	30.5
	Mean§	42.5 ± 16.0	35.6 ± 15.3	z = -4.1		< 0.001
Stay in hospital (days)
	Mean§	20.2 ± 44.5	16.0 ± 28.5			n.s.
Marital status						n.s.
	Single	56 (44)	75 (39)
	Married	41 (33)	67 (35)
	Divorced	16 (13)	22 (11)
	Widowed	0 (0)	3 (2)
	Common-law	5 (4)	16 (8)
Current psychiatric treatment				9.4	2	< 0.01
	Outpatient	63 (50)	141 (73)
	Hospitalization	2 (2)	2 (1)
	No treatment	56 (44)	33 (17)
Living status				13.9	1	< 0.001
	Alone	40 (32)	162 (84)
	Together	83 (66)	28 (14)
Education						n.s.
	Compulsory education *	27 (21)	51 (26)
	High school education and over	79 (63)	128 (66)
Previous deliberate self harm				11	2	< 0.01
	0	87 (69)	97 (50)
	1	6 (5)	19 (10)
	> 2	24 (19)	66 (34)
Previous suicide attempt				11	2	< 0.01
	0	83 (66)	85 (44)
	1	19 (15)	48 (25)
	> 2	15 (12)	48 (25)
Family history of suicide/attempt		15 (12)	29 (15)			n.s.
Methods
	Drug over dose	45 (36)	111 (57)	14.1	1	< 0.001
	Laceration	30 (24)	22 (11)	8.7	1	< 0.01
	Jumping from high place	13 (10)	29 (15)	1.4	1	< 0.05
	Poisoning	8 (6)	16 (8)			n.s.
	Inhaling carbon monoxide	11 (9)	2 (1)
	Burn	6 (5)	3 (2)
	Traffic death	3 (2)	5 (3)
	Hanging	4 (3)	3 (2)
	Drowning	4 (3)	1 (1)
	Other	2 (2)	2 (1)
	Firearm	0 (0)	0 (0)

* Compulsory education lasts for 9 years; statutory schooling ages are between 6 and 14 years in Japan. §Mann-Whitney U test