all state with populations of less than 2 million. Wyoming has far less than 1 million. Seems strange they have the highest suicide rates.

This sounds silly, but my brother told me back in the 80's (when he lived in Colorado and visited all of those states frequently) that he thought the wind might play a role! He claimed that constant high winds in Wyoming quickly depressed him when he stayed there awhile.

I'd look at alcohol abuse too.

Middle-aged white men are also the most likely to commit suicide in this country. I suspect it's because they believe that they can't ask for help... because of all that white male privilege they receive.

White males in those states might be especially cowboy-like in their refusal to get help.

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wyoming-suicide-rate-alarmingly-high-so-far-in/article_e75ede0c-f088-542b-819f-947bc53011e7.html

Middle-aged, white men are the largest demographic of men who take their own lives, Humphries-Wadsworth said.

and those states abound with them. Funny how we see white men as having the most privilege, and they do. Maybe it's the inability to deal with lack of success, when success is so important to white men and they have a clear shot at it most of the time. It's obvious I have no clue, but it's interesting.

These white people in Kentucky are deemed poor because they don't have running water or electricity, but I wonder what their family life is like?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134196/Pictured-The-modern-day-poverty-Kentucky-people-live-running-water-electricity.html

There's many white families who are pretty harsh to family members who aren't "successful."

People were in family-oriented tribes for about 95% of humanity's history. There's now more of a push to disregard family in order to pursue economic success.

I posted a few minutes ago in another thread that my parents told the cops to put me in jail and keep me there after I foolishly joined some friends in a minor act of vandalism to our school. I had a 3.8 GPA, taking all of the "advanced" coursework at my high school, and I had never been in trouble.

The neighbor boy had it far worse. At least my parents didn't treat my home life like boot camp. The neighbor kid's father was like the ex-military neighbor man depicted in "American Beauty" (except maybe he wasn't gay). That kid attempted suicide at age 16, but he survived. He seems to be doing okay now, many years later. I saw him a few years ago by happenstance.

We lost a nephew to suicide. He was smothered by family, my brother in law and his family are very close. I think it was fine for all the kids except him. He was different. He always talked about coming to Colorado to stay with us, He loved his visits here. I begged him to do that, but he never would. Now he's gone.

Was you nephew a teenager? I think it's higher in that age group as well.

The boy who lived next door to me was treated differently than his two sisters. They could apparently do no wrong, but his weird father made life hard on him.

He was 21. Last time I saw him was at his grandmother's funeral (my mother in law.) He was newly married, with a brand new baby and he was wearing an ankle bracelet. He'd been busted for drugs, meth, pills. We talked and he said he was really trying to get his life together for the baby and everyone. He was sad, we were all sad. He hung himself a month later. His mother found him. She had the baby with her. That was eight years ago next month.

That's too bad. He was obviously young and had a lot on his plate, and withdrawal can be devastating if he was going through that as well.

Many people have family who act anything but...