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Suicide in Artists: National Epidemiology

177

suicide, and 0=death by all other causes. The focus of study 3 is to ascertain the extent to
which persons in high-risk art occupations and persons in low risk artistic occupations are at
danger of suicide relative to other occupational groups. A set of socio-demographic control
variables is incorporated into the analysis. These controls are the same as in Study 2.

RESULTS
Study 1: The Distribution of Suicide by Subtypes of Artists
Table 2 presents the results regarding suicide risk for each of the nine categories of
artistic occupations. For each occupation the risk of suicide is given for each of the eight
available years. The number of suicides is provided in the first row, the number of deaths for
artists from all other causes is provided in the second row of data. In the third row the
percentage of artist deaths that were from suicide is given. The percentages in the third row
marked with an asterisk are significantly different from the percentage of the population of
deaths that were suicides in that year. The Chi Square test was used as a test statistic.

Actors
During 1985-1992, 843 actors died. Of these there were 33 suicides. The suicides
represented 3.9% of all deaths involving actors. For the general population of all deaths
analyzed for this time frame, 1.5% were suicides. In five years (1985,1986, 1987, 1990, and
1992) the percentage of actors who died of suicide was significantly greater than the percent
of the general population dying from suicide. Since actors have a significantly higher
incidence of suicide than the general population most of the time, they meet the studys
criterion for a high-risk artistic group. The peak year in actor suicide was 1990 where 7.3% of
deaths involving actors were suicides. This is nearly five times the national percentage for the
general population.
Authors
During the eight-year period, 1,284 authors died. Of these, 58 or 4.5% were suicides.
This is three times the expected percentage (1.5% for the general US population). In six years
the percentage of authors dying through suicide was significantly greater than the percentage
of the general population dying through suicide. The exceptions were 1985 and 1987. Authors
qualify as a high-risk group.
Dancers
During the 1985-1992 period, 351 dancers passed away. Dancers tend to be very young,
so it is less likely for them to die through suicide. In addition, there is an artistic expectation
that dancers will retire early due to the physical requirements of the profession (as in ballet)
(Menger, 1999). There are relatively few persons employed as dancers. Dancing is the least
common of the nine artistic specialty groups. Only 8 of the 351 deaths involving dancers were
suicides (2.3%). In only one year (1989) was the percentage of dancers dying of suicide
significantly greater than that for the general population.

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178

Steven Stack

Table 2. The distribution of suicides and deaths by artistic specializations by Year, 19851992
Artist Sub Type

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

Actor suicides
Actor deaths
% suicides
Author suicides
Author deaths
% suicides
Dancer suicides
Dancer deaths
% suicides
Designers
suicides
Designer deaths
% suicides
Musician
suicides
Musician
deaths
% suicides
Painters,
sculptors, craft
artists, print
makers suicides
Painters et al
deaths
% suicides

6
61
6.6*
3
97
3.1
0
33
0
11

4
78
5.1*
4
103
3.9*
0
26
0
4

5
89
5.6*
5
166
3.0
1
31
1.2
12

0
93
0
6
150
4.0*
2
37
5.4*
19

3
122
2.5
9
156
5.8*
1
43
2.3
19

8
109
7.3*
9
196
4.6*
2
58
3.4
17

2
142
1.4
12
210
5.7*
1
61
1.6
25

5
149
3.4*
10
206
4.9*
1
62
1.6
18

All
Years
33
843
3.91
58
1284
4.52
8
351
2.27
125

728
1.5
5

882
1.4
12

933
1.3
14

1170
1.6
14

1245
1.5
17

1205
1.4
18

1211
2.1*
12

1323
1.4
21

8697
1.4
113

432

509

627

748

726

717

739

758

5256

1.2
13

2.4
27

2.2
17

1.9
14

2.3*
30

2.5*
34

1.6
26

2.8*
16

2.14
177

375

498

520

618

800

731

840

827

5209

3.5*

5.4*

3.3*

2.3*

3.8*

4.7*

3.1*

1.9

3.39

12

12

14

73

221
2.7
0

262
1.5
0

299
4.0*
2

339
2.7*
0

356
2.2
1

372
3.2*
2

395
2.0
2

393
3.6*
2

2637
2.8
9

35
0
2

39
0
5

47
4.3
5

73
0
6

62
1.65
6

60
3.3
6

75
2.7
7

77
2.6%
7

468
1.9
44

150
1.3
44

138
3.6*
68

146
3.4*
73

186
3.2*
70

197
3.0*
94

191
3.1*
108

234
3.0*
95

211
3.3*
94

1453
3.0
646

2132

2535

2858

3414

3707

3639

3907

4006

26198

Photographers
suicides
All deaths
% suicides
Technical
writers suicides
All deaths
% suicides
Artists nec
suicides
All deaths
% suicides
All artists
suicides
All artist deaths

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Suicide in Artists: National Epidemiology

% suicides
Percent of
deaths of the
general
population that
are suicides
All deaths in
1000s

179

2.1*
1.5

2.7*
1.5

2.6*
1.6

2.1*
1.4

2.5*
1.5

3.0*
1.5

2.4*
1.5

2.3*
1.5

2.46
1.5

461

514

573

631

610

612

622

623

4646

* The difference between the proportion of artist deaths from suicide and that of the non-artist
population (1.5%) is statistically significant, p < .05, one-tailed chi square test.

Designers
Of the 8,697 deaths of designers, only 125 or 1.4% were from suicide. In only one year of
eight (1991) was the percentage of designer deaths from suicide significantly greater than the
percent of deaths that were suicides for the US population (2.1% vs. 1.5%).
Musicians
A total of 2.1% of the musicians who died over the eight-year period were suicides.
There were only three years, however, where the percentage of suicides for musician deaths
was significantly greater than that for the general population (1989, 1990, and 1992). They
did not meet the criterion for a high-risk artistic occupation.
Painters, Sculptors, Crafts Artists, and Print Makers
Of the 5,209 deaths in this group, 177 were suicides. In nearly all years this group had a
percentage of suicides significantly higher than that for the general population. The only
exception was 1992. They qualify for a high-risk artistic occupational group. Unfortunately,
we are not able to calculate suicide risk for categories within this group (e.g., sculptors).
Photographers
Of the 2,637 who died during the 1985-1992 period, 73 or 2.8% died from suicide.
Photographers have received little attention in suicidology. Kevin Carter, for example,
received the Pulitzer Prize for his photo of an extremely weak starving Sudanese child being
stalked by a hungry vulture. The images of this and many other vivid memories of killings,
corpses and assorted human suffering in the Sudan haunted him and he took his own life three
months after receiving the Pulitzer (Doherty, 2006). In half of the years the suicide risk for
photographers was significantly greater than that of the general population.
Technical Writers
A total of 9 of the 468 deaths of technical writers were suicides (1.9%). The percentage
of suicides was never significantly greater than that of the general population.
Artists, Performers and Related Workers not elsewhere Classified
This group, which would include comedians, contributed 1,453 deaths. Of these 44 or
3.0% were suicides. In seven of eight years the percent of suicides was greater than the mean
for the general population (mean 1.5%, range 1.4-1.6%). This group qualifies as a high risk
artistic occupational group.

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180

Steven Stack

All Artists
In all, 646 of the 26,198 deaths of artists were from suicide. Among artists, the
percentage of deaths that were suicides was significantly greater than that for the general
population in all eight years. However, as we have seen, some artist groups were more apt to
have significantly elevated suicide risk than others. The high-risk groups were actors, authors,
painters, sculptors, crafts, and printmakers, and artists not elsewhere classified. The low-risk
groups are comprised of dancers, designers, musicians, photographers, and technical writers.
The data from Table 2 for the census year 1990 were used to calculate estimated numbers
of suicides for each of the nine categories of artists. In addition suicide rates for the nine
classifications of artists were calculated. These estimates are provided in Table 3. Rates were
calculated using the following methodology. A total of 611,940 deaths had data on
occupation of the deceased. A total of 2,151,890 persons died in 1990. Hence, we have
occupational data on 28.4% of the persons who died in 1990. Our estimate of the actual
number of persons who died in an occupation would be the number based on the death
registration area of 21 states divided by 0.284. For example, we found that 8 actors completed
suicide in 1990 in the 21 states. For all fifty states the estimated number of actors would be 8
actors divided by 0.284 = 28 actor suicides. In 1990 there were 109,573 actors in the labor
force (US Bureau of the Census 1992:3). The suicide rate for actors that year is, therefore,
estimated to be 33.4. This is nearly three times the suicide rate of the general population.
Estimated rates for subcategories of artists range from a low of 9.4 for technical writers to a
high of 56.4 for the category of painters, sculptors, craft artists, and artist printmakers.
Overall, artists had a suicide rate of 25.3.
Table 3. Suicide rates by occupation in 1990
Occupation

Authors
Actors
Dancers
Designers
Musicians
Painters, Sculptors, Craft
Artists, & Artist
Printmakers
Photographers
Technical Writers
Artist, Performers, &
Related Workers, nec.
All Artists

Estimated suicide
rate

Number of suicides
in occupation
(estimated) 1990
32
28
7
60
63
120

Number of persons
in occupation in
1990
105,730
109,573
21,913
596,802
148,020
212,762

30.7
33.4
31.9
10.1
42.6
56.4

42

143,520

29.3

7
21

74,292
93,421

9.4
22.4

380

1,506,033

25.3

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