This study examined the reliability and validity of the instruments as used in the psychological autopsy method in China. With data from 130 informants on 66 completed suicides and 130 informants on 66 normal community controls and 66 controls themselves, the validity was examined by comparing the responses of informants and the responses (gold standards) of the target participants in the control group. All the tested instruments were shown to be reliable, and proxy respondents were generally good judges of targets' suicidal intention, social support, depression, life events, personality traits, and mental disorders. Additionally, interrater reliabilities of the five interviewers were very good on selected scales. This study has laid a partial foundation for future psychological autopsy projects to be held in Chinese culture.

As China opens its door to the world, suicide research is making rapid progress using methods and instruments developed in the West. This is a feasibility study of the psychological autopsy methodology applied in China, with its emphasis on the social and cultural environments. With samples of 66 completed suicides and 66 community normal living controls, the authors found that it is feasible to interview at least two informants for each suicide case and each control, between 2 and 6 months after the suicide. With the Chinese-cultivated contacting method of recruiting cases, the refusal rate is nearly zero. The Western-developed methodology per se proved to be valid in the Chinese culture. Ethical considerations in the context of Chinese culture are as important as in the West. Psychological autopsy technique is shown to be an equally applicable method for the study of completed suicides in Chinese culture as it is in the West. Future epidemiological research on Chinese suicide should use the psychological autopsy method to collect data from larger samples in order to increase our understanding of the risk factors for Chinese suicides.Suicide has been an alarming social problem in China, claiming about 300,000 lives each year (Brown, 1997;Murray & Lopez, 1996; World Health Organization, 1988-1995, with more women than men, higher rates in rural areas than in urban, and greater risks for young population aged 15-24 than the younger and the middle-aged (Macleod, 1998;Phillips, Liu, & Zhang, 1999;Pritchard, 1996;Qin & Mortensen, 2001; World Health Organization, 1988-1995Yip, 2001;Zhang, 1996Zhang, , 2000a. Researchers both in and out of China are trying to identify the factors that account for the high suicide rates among Chinese rural young women

ADHD symptomatology is present among college students in China in a pattern similar to that found in American college students. The WURS and the CSS appear to be effective screening measures for the disorder in China, although further research on gender and cultural differences is necessary.

Studying the characteristics of attempted suicide is helpful in knowing the background of some completed suicides and improving prevention or intervention strategies. This current study analyzed data of 74 suicide attempters and 92 accident injured patients admitted to 6 hospital emergency rooms in an area of North-eastern China and found both similarities and differences between Chinese and Western suicide attempters. The data show that more women than men attempted suicide. Perhaps because of the unavailability of firearms to Chinese civilians, pesticide was the most lethal means of suicidal behavior. The stressful life events that account for the majority of suicidal incidents were mostly familial or marital problems. Compared with accident victims, these Chinese suicide attempters were younger, poorer, more likely to believe in a religion/superstition, more likely to perceive gender inequality, and less likely to experience support from either family or community. The traditional culture downplaying the status of women coupled with a belief in the transmigration of life may play an important role in the suicide of Chinese young women.Suicide in China has been a focus of study in recent years partially because of its uniqueness in the demographic structure of the rates-more women than men, more rural people than urban residents, and an astonishing prevalence among youth ages 15-34 (Phillips et al., 2002;Zhang et al., 2004). An optimal way to obtain first-hand knowledge about risk factors and cultural influences would be directly interviewing serious attempters of suicide. In this current study, we try to understand the characteristics and risk factors of Chinese suicide through assessing the overall background of a sample of serious attempters.In the West, it has been estimated that the ratio of suicide attempts to completed suicides is between 6-8 to 1 and 8-25 to 1 (Maris et al., 2000;McIntosh, 1998), and some overlap has been observed between attempts and completed suicides in terms of psychiatric diagnoses and care, history of previous suicide attempts, social disadvantage, and exposure to stressful life events (Beautrais, 2001). However, in the West there are also some differences between suicide attempts and completed suicides. For example, more men than women kill themselves via suicide, but more women than men attempt suicide (Maris et al., 2000). Although only about Few studies have been published on suicide attempters in China. One study (Ran et al., 2003) was based on data collected from a psychiatric elderly sample. To know more about the Chinese suicide, we need also to study the attempters from a general population, because a much lower percentage of completed suicides in China have been observed with psychiatric disorders than that found in the West (Phillips et al., 2002;Zhang et al., 2004). This current research project explores the characteristics of Chinese suicide attempters from non-psychiatric populations Method RespondentsRespondents were consecutively sampled serious attempters...

Chinese suicide research did not start until the end of 1970s, when China opened its door to the West through reforming its economy. Although limited Chinese suicide research conducted overseas is published and known to the West, studies conducted by Chinese researchers and published in Chinese language, which may be of more significance, are rarely known or cited in the West. Further, researchers in China with direct observation of the suicidal environment may understand the suicide differently than scholars overseas with second hand information, and therefore derive different explanations of Chinese suicide. This current study overviews suicide research conducted in China and published in Chinese during the past two decades and compares the findings with what has been reported in Western publications. Six research books and 429 journal articles are reviewed. As units of analyses, all journal articles are quantified with 151 variables analyzed. Results support findings of previous studies in terms of the suicide rates by gender, age, and rural/urban location. A unique phenomenon in Chinese suicide noticed in the study is that married Chinese are at higher risk of suicide than the non-married. Hypotheses for future research are suggested based on the articles reviewed. KeywordsChinese culture; China; gender; rural; suicide methods in China; suicide rates in China Suicide in China has become a focus of study in recent years, partly because of increasingly available data and the astonishingly high rates of Chinese suicide publicized in previous reports. Since 1987, the Chinese Ministry of Public Health (CMPH) has reported vital statistics, including those for suicide, to the World Health Organization (WHO) on an annual basis. However, few researchers out of China have obtained suicide data from various local governments in China, because suicide is still a politically sensitive topic in the nation. Therefore, the world's knowledge of Chinese suicide is generally based on what is provided by WHO Statistical Annuals, which are limited to only the rates by age, gender, and rural/ urban location provided by the Chinese government. Based on the WHO data, Chinese suicide is unique in comparison with those in the rest of the world in at least two ways. First, Chinese women commit more suicides than do Chinese men, while the reverse is true for the rest of the world (Lester, 1990; WHO, 1988 WHO, -1995Zhang, 1996). Second, rural Chinese commit more suicides than urban Chinese do, while in most parts of the world, suicide rates are higher in cities than in the country (Lester 1990). In addition, the Chinese suicide age pattern is generally a bimodal one, though the first peak of suicide rates is between 15-24, instead of around the age of 25-34 as found other societies, and this is particularly true among rural females. Therefore, suicide by rural young women in China is an urgent focus in suicide research.