Age groups, Race, Gender

Age Groups

The highest average indicators of depression/anxiety are with 18-29 year olds. Also these groups are receiving the most treatments This is an interesting finding when compared to the Age group vs. suicide rates because those who are 65+ have the highest suicide rates even though they don’t seem to have the highest depression/anxiety indicators. This makes sense because even though 18-29 year olds have higher symptoms of anxiety, they are getting the treatments they need while the 65+ years olds are not, therefore it would make sense that they are not.

Furthermore, considering the conditions of pre- and post-pandemic, it’s not surprising that younger age groups are receiving treatment. A few things to note: health issues typically start around teenage years and the pandemic has increased the number of youth with mental health problems. Thus, a mass movement of removing the stigma around mental illness has risen. Younger groups are more likely, now, to be persuaded by this movement to talk openly about their mental health due to the rising normalization. Clearly, there is a correlation between treatments and decreased suicide rates.

Race

Overall, over the years, suicide rates have increased across all races. While Asian/Pacific Islander and Black/African American groups share similar progressions, an interesting insight comes from the White and Hispanic/Latino groups. Overall, the people who are white have more suicide rates and there has been an uptake in suicide rates for hispanic/latino groups since about 2000. Based on the bar graph, a surprising insight is that the Hispanic population has the highest average indicators after the other races/mixed races group. From the plot of mental health care and race, there is a large gap between White and Hispanic groups showing that mental health treatments need to be increased towards other minority groups like the Hispanic group who are also steadily showing signs of increased depression and increased suicide rates.

Decreased treatments may be because of stigma around mental illness in many minority communities. As a result, many minorities do not receive the treatment that they need. Furthermore, there is less data on minorities because they often disregard or are in denial about their mental illness. This may be out of shame or fear.

Gender

Based on the animation of gender differences in suicide rates over the years, it’s clear that males tend to have higher suicide rates than females. Based on the bar graph grouped by age group, some clear insights are that males seem to have higher suicide rates than females across all age groups. Also, there is a clear spike with males who are 65 years and older. Interestingly enough, there does not seem to be a lot of variation with females across age groups, showing that age does not seem to be a strong influencing factor on suicide rates for femals but seem to have a high corrolation with males.

This is a contrast to treatments based on gender. Females have higher mental health care than males showing that there is a very obvious gap between males who are having higher indicators of anxiety and depression and higher rates of suicides but less mental health care.
This has a lot to do with gender roles and the stigma around mental health with men. While women are seen as more sensitive and emotional, society often pressures men to to be strong and tough. Thus, they typically hide away their feelings or do not admit to having mental illness. So, they often do not seek care.