Figure 1. Age of Onset of Lifetime Suicide Ideation, Plan, and Attempt Among Blacks (n=5002).

The smoothed hazard functions describe the ways in which the onset risks of the 3 suicidal behaviors change with time. For all behaviors, the highest risk occurs from the teenage years to the mid-twenties. From the mid-twenties, the risks generally decline gradually with the exception of a slight increase from the mid-forties to mid-fifties. Notice that the risk of attempting suicide is slightly higher than the risk of making a suicide plan until approximately age 19 years, when the 2 hazard curves cross. This suggests that nonplanned, impulsive attempts are more likely than planned attempts up to this point in young adulthood.