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A SUICIDE epidemic among Scotland’s young men has been triggered by economic turmoil and the country’s booze binge culture, a study has revealed.

Experts have discovered that the country is a UK suicide hotspot, with higher rates than England and Wales due to a growing number of young Scots men taking their lives.

The study – which examined suicide rates north and south of the Border between 1960 and 2008 – revealed that suicides among men began to drop in England and Wales in the 1990s, while they soared in Scotland.

A team from the Universities of Edinburgh and Manchester and the Medical Research Council Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow carried out the research.

Dr Roger Webb, from Manchester University’s Centre for Suicide Prevention, said: “Our research reveals that the suicide rate in Scotland compared to that in England and Wales has three distinct phases.

“Up until the late 1960s, the suicide rate in England was always higher than that in Scotland.

“But around 1968, the rates ‘crossed over,’ with Scotland having the higher rate in both genders.

“In phase two, between 1969 and 1991, the rates remained steadily higher in Scotland than in England.

“But from 1992 onwards, we see a third phase where the suicide mortality gap between the two countries widened markedly.”

The study said the causes of the “Scottish effect” of soaring suicide rates could be down to a number of factors, including “deindustrialisation and changes in political context, leading to social, cultural and economic disruption”.

They also pointed to “heavy drinking, irrespective of other psychiatric disorders”.

Two years ago, Dundee was hit by a spate of suicides.

Seven young people took their lives there in just over a month.

Scott Nichol, 22, was found dead on wasteground on the outskirts of the city on July 10.

At the time, his heartbroken friend Scott McIntosh was forced to reassure pals that it wasn’t him who had committed suicide.

But weeks later, the 21-year-old hanged himself from the same tree in a chilling echo of his pal’s death.

Five others took their lives in the city around the same time.

On July 1, 17-year-old Anthony Riddell was found dead in woods off Kirk Street.

Two days later, Ragan Thomson, 18, was found in the same area of woodland.

A week later, on July 10, the body of Steven Loftus, 23, was discovered in Finlathen Park – the same day that Scott Nichol was found to have killed himself in the grounds of Baldovan House.

On July 16, Iain Bell, 20, committed suicide in Corbie Wood.

Two weeks later, 19-year-old Gemma Wighton was found dead at her home in Dundee.

Dr Webb added: “The research clearly indicates that much of the divergence in the national suicide rates has been driven by a marked increase in risk among Scottish young adults, especially males, and deaths by hanging in this group. One of the key changes in methods used during the study period was the marked increase in suicide by hanging, particularly among young men in Scotland.

“This is of particular concern as hanging has high case fatality and is difficult to prevent, except within institutional settings.

“It has been proposed that a public information campaign about hanging would be the most useful way to tackle the increase of suicide deaths by this method.”

Published yesterday, the study in the British Journal of Psychiatry looked at suicide trends by gender and by age group as well as method.

Professor Stephen Platt, of Edinburgh University’s Centre for Population Health Sciences, said: “It adds to our understanding about patterns of suicide in Britain by producing sound evidence on divergences in long-term trends in Scotland compared to England and Wales.

“In a future companion paper, we will suggest explanations for the persisting higher rate of suicide in Scotland.”