Women's suicide in low-, middle-, and high-income countries: Do laws discriminating against women matter?

Cai, Ziyi; Canetto, Silvia Sara; Chang, Qingsong; Yip, Paul S. F.

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114035

Cited by 24 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…A study of suicide in LMICs and HICs found that women had relatively higher suicide rates in countries where laws were discriminatory against women—for example, countries where women had unequal rights in family law with regard to divorce and inheritance, limited access to land and non-land assets, etc. ( 41 ). It is possible that these legal issues could also cause or be the result of “family problems” for women.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Scoping Review of Gender Differences in Suicide in India

et al. 2022

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IntroductionMuch of the published literature on suicide comes from high income countries. In countries such as India, female suicide rates exceed the global suicide rate and suicide rates found in their male counterparts. Results from previous studies indicate that factors related to suicide among men and women in India are different from those seen in high-income countries. To date, no reviews have considered the relationship between gender and suicide in India. Therefore, the aim of this scoping review is to provide a comprehensive understanding of existing literature reporting gender differences in suicide rates, methods, risk factors and antecedent factors in India by reviewing published studies.MethodA scoping review was conducted to map the existing literature on gender differences in suicide in India. To identify peer-reviewed publications, online databases PsycINFO and Embase were searched. The search terms were [suicid* AND India*]. The searches took place in November 2020 and May 2021, with no language restrictions. Articles published from 2014 onwards from India were included. Reference lists of selected studies were searched for studies that could meet the inclusion criteria.ResultsThis review identified 17 studies that met the inclusion criteria. The ratio between women and men who die by suicide in India is much lower than in high-income countries. Hanging was found to be a more commonly used method of suicide among both men and women, in comparison to high-income countries where hanging is more common among men. This review also identified several gaps in the literature. There were few studies that examined suicide among transgender Indians. There was limited literature on gender differences in risk and protective factors for suicide. Limitations such as the omission of a lack of gender-based analyses in several studies and under-reporting of suicide rates were identified.ConclusionUnderstanding suicide within the context of individual countries is essential in designing culture-appropriate suicide prevention strategies. This review identified an urgent need to establish and evaluate suicide surveillance systems in India. Furthermore, additional research is warranted to understand suicide among individuals who identify outside the gender binary, and gender-specific risk and protective factors.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Scoping Review of Gender Differences in Suicide in India

et al. 2022

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“…Most of these studies have documented the suicide scripts of a particular culture or sociodemographic group within a culture/country (e.g., Abeyasekera & Marecek, 2019;Abrutyn et al, 2020;Billaud, 2012;Brown, 1986;Cai et al, 2021;Canetto, 2003Canetto, ,2015bCanetto, ,2017Canetto, ,2019Canetto et al, 2017;Canetto et al, 2021;Canetto & Lester, 2002;Canetto, 2017;Cato & Canetto, 2003a,2003bCounts, 1980;Dahlen & Canetto, 2002;Eisenwort et al, 2014;Jorgensen, 1983Jorgensen, -1984Kral, 2012;Lee, 2014;Linehan, 1973;Meng, 2002;Pearson, 1995;Pearson & Liu, 2002;Pepper, 2017;Rasool & Payton, 2014;Rubinstein, 1987;Sefa-Dedeh & Canetto, 1992;Stice & Canetto, 2008;Tighe et al, 2015;Widger, 2012;Winterrowd et al, 2017).…”

Section: Suicide As Culturally Scriptedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Language, culture, gender, and intersectionalities in suicide theory, research, and prevention: Challenges and changes

Canetto

2021

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

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Over the decades suicidology has experienced many challenges and changes.Language, culture, gender, and intersectionalities of experience have been domains of challenge and change. In this article I document my contributions to suicidology's transformation in these domains. These contributions include challenging stigmatizing and biased suicide-language (e.g., expressions like "successful" and "failed" suicide); questioning gender myths of suicidal behaviors (e.g., the myth that women and men are opposites in terms of suicide motives); the gender-paradox-of-suicide idea; and suicide-scripts theory and research. I then describe the evolution of suicide-scripts theory. Suicide-scripts theory builds on evidence that in each culture there are unique situations when suicidal behavior is expected from specific people, using specific methods, and with specific social consequences. The theory posits that these scripts contribute to variations in suicidality across cultures, and within cultures, across sociodemographic groups, intersectionally. Studies using a diversity of methodologies and focusing on a diversity of sociodemographic groups and cultures point to the role of suicide scripts in suicidality. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications, for suicide prevention, of suicide-scripts theory and evidence.

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“…Legislation and collective regulations may exert a significant influence on psychopathology (with respect to suicide, see e.g. Knipe et al ., 2014 ; Kim et al ., 2019 ; Cai et al ., 2021 ), and more research is needed to estimate the potential impact of different drug policies on clinical outcomes (including suicide) among individuals with a substance use disorder. Researchers working in the growing field of legal epidemiology (Burris et al ., 2020 ) are particularly well positioned to address this issue.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suicide mortality among psychiatric patients in Northeast Italy: a 10-year cohort study

Girardi

Boldrini

Braggion

et al. 2022

Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci

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Aims The present study investigated the relationship between suicide mortality and contact with a community mental health centre (CMHC) among the adult population in the Veneto Region (northeast Italy, population 4.9 million). Specifically, it estimated the effects of age, gender, time elapsed since the first contact with a CMHC, calendar year of diagnosis and diagnostic category on suicide mortality and modality. Methods The regional mortality archive was linked to electronic medical records for all residents aged 18–84 years who had been admitted to a CMHC in the Veneto Region in 2008. In total, 54 350 subjects diagnosed with a mental disorder were included in the cohort and followed up for a period of 10 years, ending in 2018. Years of life lost (YLL) were computed and suicide mortality was estimated as a mortality rate ratio (MRR). Results During the follow-up period, 4.4% of all registered deaths were from suicide, but, given the premature age of death (mean 52.2 years), suicide death accounted for 8.7% of YLL; this percentage was particularly high among patients with borderline personality disorder (27.2%), substance use disorder (12.1%) and bipolar disorder (11.5%) who also presented the highest suicide mortality rates. Suicide mortality rates were halved in female patients (MRR 0.45; 95% CI 0.37–0.55), highest in patients aged 45–54 years (MRR 1.56; 95% CI 1.09–2.23), and particularly elevated in the 2 months following first contact with CMHCs (MRR 10.4; 95% CI 5.30–20.3). A sensitivity analysis restricted to patients first diagnosed in 2008 confirmed the results. The most common modalities of suicide were hanging (47%), jumping (18%), poisoning (13%) and drowning (10%), whereas suicide from firearm was rare (4%). Gender, age at death and time since first contact with CMHCs influenced suicide modality. Conclusions Suicide prevention strategies must be promptly initiated after patients’ first contact with CMHCs. Patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, substance use disorder and bipolar disorder may be at particularly high risk for suicide.

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Women's suicide in low-, middle-, and high-income countries: Do laws discriminating against women matter?

Cited by 24 publications

References 21 publications

A Scoping Review of Gender Differences in Suicide in India

A Scoping Review of Gender Differences in Suicide in India

Language, culture, gender, and intersectionalities in suicide theory, research, and prevention: Challenges and changes

Suicide mortality among psychiatric patients in Northeast Italy: a 10-year cohort study

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