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Keywords

Suicidal behavior, intersocietal variation, culture, values

Disciplines

Architecture | Business | Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

The rates of suicidal ideation, attempts and mortality present a large intersocietal variation. This variation is usually attributed to the role of culture, but the issue is still poorly understood. How does culture contribute to the intersocietal or cross-cultural variation of suicidal behavior? How culture might be involved in the onset, maintenance and aggravation of suicidal tendencies? In this paper, I will be discussing possible mechanisms of culture for the onset, maintenance and aggravation of suicidal propensities. Specifically, I will be examining the role of religion, individualistic-collectivistic value orientations, self-construal and survival versus self-expression values for their relevance to suicidal behavior and its intersocietal variation. The article highlights some conceptual and methodological issues together with some future directions for research on the possible role of culture in suicidal process.

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