Self-reported happiness in life and suicide in ensuing 20 years.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-reported unhappiness and suicide.


METHODS
A sample of adult Finns unselected for health status (N = 29,067) responded to a question on happiness in life with five alternatives: very happy (15.9 %), fairly happy (63.4 %), cannot say (12.9 %), fairly unhappy (6.9 %), very unhappy (1 %). Cox regression was used to study the suicide risk.


RESULTS
From 1976 to 1995, 182 suicides occurred. At baseline, unhappiness was associated with older age, male gender, sickness, living alone, smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and belonging to intermediate social class. The risk of suicide increased with decreasing happiness. The very unhappy compared with the very happy had an age-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 10.84 (95 % CI 3.93-29.94) for suicide. After adjusting for the above-mentioned factors this HR was 7.01 (95% CI 2.44-20.08).


CONCLUSIONS
Self-reported unhappiness is strongly associated with subsequent suicide in a long follow-up. Moreover, it seems to indicate also cumulative health hazards.
Koivumaa-Honkanen
H
H
Department of Psychiatry, 4977, Kuopio University Hospital, P. O. Box 1777, 70211 Kuopio, Finland. heli.koivumaa@kuh.fi
Honkanen
R
R
Koskenvuo
M
M
Kaprio
J
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006240:Happiness; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011788:Quality of Life; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012923:Social Class; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*