Factors influencing the suicide rates of numerous immigrants in groups in Australia, Canada, England and Wales, and the United States during the period 1959-73 were examined. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated for the origin, immigrant and destination native-born populations using the Canadian native-born age-sex-specific suicide rates as the standard. For males, the foreign-born in England and Wales had the lowest suicide rates and the foreign-born in the United States the highest. For females the variation was smaller, with immigrants in the United States having the lowest rates, and those in Australia the highest. Agespecific suicide rates indicated that relative to the native-born, foreign-born elderly had substantially elevated risks of suicide. In each destination significant correlations existed between the suicide rates of the immigrants and those of the origin populations, indicating that the suicide rates for individual immigrant groups were to some extent predisposed by their experiences in the origin countries. Factors in the destination country also influenced immigrant suicide rates, as the rates of the majority of the immigrant groups converged towards the rates of the destination native-born. Overall, the observed changes in SMRs were significantly correlated to the expected changes. The analyses also suggested that migration is more deleterious for females than males. © 1991 Springer Science+Business Media.

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