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Suicidality Impacted by Gender, Culture
Women and women in the Usa take into account and interact in suicidal behavior much more typically than males and boys, but die of suicide at a reduce rate – a gender paradox enabled by U.S. cultural norms of gender and suicidal conduct, according to a psychologist who spoke at the 118th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.
“Everywhere, suicidal habits is culturally scripted,” said Silvia S. Canetto, PhD, of Colorado State University. “Girls and males adopt the self-destructive behaviors that are expected of them within their cultures.”
While the gender paradox of suicidal conduct is common, particularly in industrialized countries,
Microsoft Office 2010 Home And Student, it is not universal, she said. In China, for example, ladies die of suicide at higher rates than guys. In Finland and Ireland, men and ladies interact in nonfatal suicidal habits at similar rates. There are a lot more exceptions to the gender paradox of suicidal habits when one examines female/male patterns of suicidality by age or culture, she said.
In some cultures, particularly in industrialized countries, such as the usa and Canada, suicide is considered a masculine act and an “unnatural” habits for women, Canetto said at a symposium entitled “New Perspectives on Suicide Theory, Research and Prevention.”
“In these countries, the dominant view is that `successful, completed’ suicide is the masculine way to do suicide. From the U.S., girls who kill themselves are considered far more deviant than adult males. By contrast,
Windows 7 Starter, in other cultures, killing oneself is considered feminine behavior (and is a lot more common in ladies),” she said, citing, among others,
Office 2007 Professional Plus Key, the Aguaruna people of Peru, who view suicide as an indication of a feminine inability to control strong emotions. Yet in other cultures, men’s and women’s suicidal behavior is similar. For example, in Sri Lanka, the same types of issues (problems with spouses, parents or in-laws) are typically associated with both women’s and men’s suicides.
“A broad cultural perspective shows that girls and males do not consistently differ in terms of the kinds of suicidal conduct they engage in, or with regard to the circumstances or the motives of their suicidal conduct,” she said. “When females and guys differ with regard to some dimensions of suicidal behavior, the meaning and salience of these differences vary from one social group to another, one tradition to another, one historical period to another, depending on local scripts of gender and suicidal habits.” The cultural variability in patterns and scripts of women’s and men’s suicidal behavior calls for “culturally situated suicidality research and prevention,” Canetto said.
At the same symposium, James L. Werth Jr., PhD, of Radford University, discussed reasons why the suicide charge in rural America is consistently higher than it is in urban areas. In addition to general suicide risk factors, such as mental illness, a family history of suicide and feelings of hopelessness, rural residents may be a lot more isolated, be less willing to ask for help and have increased access to lethal means such as guns and pesticides, he said.
“County by county or state by state, the top areas in terms of suicide are rural,” Werth said. “The top five states are Alaska, Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nevada, whereas D.C., New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts have the lowest rates.”
Some of the possible contributing factors to the higher rates in rural America are much more poverty, higher unemployment and lack of access to treatment resources, Werth said. “People are not going to drive five hours to visit a counselor,” he said.
In suggesting possible solutions to the rural suicide charge, Werth said greater access to broadband would help by increasing access to resources, as will integration of mental health practitioners into primary care.
“Even though people live farther apart, there may be stronger connections – they need to rely on one another,” he said. “There may be longstanding relationships among families and more religiosity …. we need to build on those existing qualities and strengths and beliefs.”
Source: American Psychological Association
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