Abstract

MARTINEZ SALGADO, Carolina. Population and Mental Health in Mexico. Reflections and an Exercise in Approaches to the Variations of Mortality due to Suicide. Estud. demogr. urbanos [online]. 2010, vol.25, n.3, pp.663-712. ISSN 2448-6515.

This document presents a set of reflections on the importance of dealing with the many complex links between population dynamics and mental health problems. These reflections are accompanied by an exploratory exercise regarding the variations in mortality due to suicide in Mexico from 1990 and 2008 as a form of death that has been linked to a certain type of mental disorders. The exercise, preceded by a review of some of the main contributions of the research regarding mortality due to suicide undertaken in Mexico in recent decades, is initially intended to guide the formulation of hypotheses in successive studies on the possible links between the evolution of suicide levels and certain indicators of population processes. It reviews the evolution, during the period considered, of the proportional distribution and certain rates for the main demographic characteristics of those that have died from this cause, the injury that caused death, access to medical care and the geographical variations of mortality due to suicide analyzed from three angles: its proportional share of the sub-set of violent deaths, the ratio of masculinity and the mortality rates observed in each state. On the basis of the most recent information, a preliminary classification of the states into three main sets is proposed. The study points to several of the questions that should be dealt with in subsequent approaches and ends with an indication of the challenges involved in the exploration of these inter-relationships.

Keywords : mental health; population studies; mortality due to suicide; Mexico.