SOCIAL SCIENCES

Suicide rates between males and females

Suicide rates between males and females

Introduction

Suicide is a very complex phenomenon. Any patterns observed in the past or in the West might not be valid at present or applicable to other non-western countries. There are many differences in suicide rates between East and West. For example, the male to female suicide ratio is higher in western than eastern countries (Yip, 1998a); elderly suicide rates in Asian countries are three times higher than the average while in western countries the elderly suicide rate is higher than the average, but by a much smaller factor ( Chi et al., 1997 and Yip). The bi-modal seasonal pattern for female suicides was not found in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Europe and New Zealand ( Ho; Yip and Hakko et al., 1998). Many existing studies of the incidence of suicide in western societies suggest that the suicide rate is higher in urban regions ( Garrison; Pearson and Cantor). In this paper we attempt to test two hypotheses as in Pritchard's (1996a): (i) the male to female suicide ratio is larger than one; (ii) urban suicide rates are higher than rural rates. We will explore the gender, urban and rural differentials in Beijing (China) and Europe and to highlight the difference between East and West. Also discussed are factors which are common to both places and the extent to which differences in ratios and rates are explained by the cultural differences.

Data and methods

For the purpose of this study, deaths coded in the range E950-E959 of ICD-9 (World Health Organization, 1978) were classified as suicides. For Australia, suicide data for the period of 1991-1996 were made available by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The ascertainment of death due to unnatural causes is made through the Coroner's court in Europe and judicial inquiries establish where deaths are due to suicide. In Beijing, all deaths are reported to the Public Security Office for registration. The cause of death can be ascertained from the death certificate issued by local hospitals. For those suicides not registered in hospitals, the Public Security Office record may be used. All the data are reported to the Division of Statistics of the Ministry of Health for recording and processing.

The Division is responsible to report China health data to World Health Organization in Geneva. With special permission, the suicide information was released to the authors for research purposes only. There are inherent difficulties in international comparison especially the diagnostic and recording systems in Europe and Beijing were not the same. However, our focus is on the ratios in suicide rates between urban and rural, male to female populations within the respective places rather than the differential prevalence, thus resolving the difficulties inherent in cross national studies ( O'Carroll, 1989). Accurate suicide figures for mainland China are difficult to obtain because of the large population and area. However, the suicide records collected through the Beijing Public Security Bureau are considered to be valid and reliable ( Zhang, ...