The report analyzed state suicide rates from 2004 to 2006. It found
the 10 counties below Interstate 195, along with the areas in New
Jersey's rural northwest corner, have higher incidents of suicides.
Cape May County, at the far southern tip of the state, topped the list.
The higher suicide rate in sparsely populated areas mirrors
nationwide patterns, but was still a surprise to the director of the
state office which analyzes injury data.
"What we call a rural area in New Jersey is not really all that
rural, compared to places like Montana," Katherine Hempstead, the
director of the Office of Injury Surveillance and Prevention, told The
Sunday Star Ledger of Newark.
Hempstead suggested one possible reason for higher suicide rates in rural areas: more access to guns.
Seven counties with the highest suicide rates from 2003 to 2005 also had firearm ownership rates above the state average.
The state study found 45 percent of suicides in rural Sussex County
were by gunshot, compared to fewer than 16 percent of suicides in urban
Essex County.
"One aspect of rural life is greater likelihood of owning a gun, and
with owning a gun comes greater risk of suicide," Hempstead said.
Other reasons offered by experts include rural attitudes that cause
some to shun counseling, and the difficulties rural people encounter
trying to seek seeking mental health services in a private manner.
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