The third apocalypse: the human male survivor has lower life expectancy during adolescence.

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Vascular, infectious, oncological, and accidental death continue to affect adolescent boys more than girls.  There is however, an additional sex difference which rears its ugly head at this age:  suicide.   Suicide exists in pre-adolescent children, but is quite rare.  The suicide rate climbs rapidly however, during adolescence, to become in fact, the major killer in this age group -especially in Nordic countries where suicide rates are generally higher (probably for reasons having to do with climate,  such as lack of sunlight).   Intense light such as tropical sunlight (or certain special very high intensity electric lamps) is an effective antidepressant,  as numerous controlled clinical experiments have now shown.   There is a huge gender gap in adolescent suicide rate:   whereas girls have just as high rates of suicidal rumination as boys,  the latter are about five times more prone to actually killing themselves  -more often by violent and effective means (gunshots, jumping off bridges) than are selected by girls (superficial wrist slashing,  pills).  Over all ages, in western cultures, the human male is about 3 times more likely to commit suicide than the female.  It could be argued that this is a culturally determined gender difference.   But I would counter-argue that part of the difference is biological.   The more aggressive and fearless disposition of boys is partly inherent,   and when a boy is upset,   this trait,  whether turned against himself or against others can more easily lead to death.

A vignette on a case of attempted suicide in an adolescent boy

S9 was a 15 year old boy who was referred to a local clinical neuropsychologist after a near fatal suicide attempt.   He had attempted to kill himself by shooting himself in the anterior temple.   The bullet ripped through his frontal lobes.  Because the optic tract (the eye’s nerve) travels there,  he was permanently blinded.   He had not fully recovered medically when he was first assessed psychologically.   During the hospitalization he was very angry and suicidal.  Prior to the suicide attempt,  he was a very bright student.   His parents were divorced but regrouped after his suicide attempt to care for him.  He had had no specific complaints about any aspect of his life except that most of his friends, who were older than he,  had left his school for college.  He had a girlfriend at the time of his suicide.  She remained very close to him after his suicide attempt.  His suicide attempt took everybody by surprise, given his previously apparently happy childhood.    He had however been a bit of a braggart and was not much  sought out by other children:  this distressed him.      During his hospitalization,  he did not complain,   and his depression and anger eventually both lifted.   Upon follow up,  he was learning Braille in a school for the blind at a very fast rate and stated that he was satisfied with his life.   Neuropsychological evaluation after his medical recovery revealed superior cognitive ability in all spheres.  This boy has a narcissistic personality.

Some readers might wonder whether men are more at risk for death during young adulthood.  They are.  One of the factors involved is work related deaths.  This factor is not very important epidemiologically (it is not a “ major ” killer),  but it is a true sex difference.  For example,  in Canada there are about 1,000 work-related deaths per year.  Of these,   960 are men.