By CATHERINE MASTERS
More than 60 per cent of the young people committing suicide in New Zealand hang themselves and a further 18 per cent die from vehicle exhaust gas.
The statistics are part of a study commissioned by the Ministry of Health to determine whether this country's high youth suicide rates
can be reduced by restricting access to methods.
Restricting access is part of the World Health Organisation's six-step strategy towards reducing suicide.
But the study concludes that strategy is unlikely to reduce suicidal behaviour among young New Zealanders because both methods are widely available and difficult to restrict.
The paper, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, is written by Annette Beautrais, the principal investigator of Christchurch Medical School's Canterbury Suicide Project.
She says that during the past two decades male youth suicide rates have nearly doubled, from 20.3 per 100,000 in 1977 to 39.5 per 100,000 in 1996.
"This increase was accounted for, almost entirely, by increased use of hanging [71 per cent of total increase] and vehicle exhaust gas [26 per cent of total increase].
"Suicide rates among young females also increased, from 4 per 100,000 in 1977 to 14.3 per 100,000 in 1996."
Again, those two methods largely accounted for the increase.
"The net results of these trends was that in recent years, almost 80 per cent of youth suicides in New Zealand have arisen from just two methods: hanging and vehicle exhaust gas."
Ms Beautrais says the idea that suicides may be prevented by restricting access is "intuitively appealing" and international approaches place strong emphasis on it.
But her results suggest its potential for making major inroads here is extremely limited.
She says policy efforts need to be directed towards addressing the underlying risk factors, life processes and associated causes that lead people to commit suicide.
Youth suicide - confronting the last taboo