The Gender Ratio of Chinese Suicide Rates: An Explanation in Confucianism

Sex Roles

Volumn 70, Issue 3-4, 2014, Pages 146-154

  Zhang, Jie ^a,b  

^a SHANDONG UNIVERSITY   (China)

^b BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE   (United States)

Author keywords

China; Confucianism; Gender ratio of suicide; Gender roles; Religion; Sexism; Suicide

Indexed keywords

EID: 84894640335     PISSN: 03600025     EISSN: 15732762     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11199-013-0333-9     Document Type: Article

References (59)

1. Bauman, Z. (1976). Toward a critical sociology. London: Routledge Kegan Paul.
2. Callanan, V. J., & Davis, M. S. (2011). Gender and suicide method: Do women avoid facial disfiguration? Sex Roles, 65, 867-879. doi: 10. 1007/s11199-011-0043-0.
3. Callanan, V., & Davis, M. (2012). Gender differences in suicide methods. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 47, 857-869. doi: 10. 1007/s00127-011-0393-5.
4. Canetto, S. S., & Sakinofsky, I. (1998). The gender paradox in suicide. Suicide and Life-threatening Behavior, 28, 1-23. doi: 10. 1111/j. 1943-278X. 1998. tb00622. x.
5. Conner, K. R., Beautrais, A. L., Brent, D. A., Conwell, Y., Phillips, M. R., & Schneider, B. (2011). The next generation of psychological autopsy studies. Suicide and Life-threatening Behavior, 41, 594-613. doi: 10. 1111/j. 1943-278X. 2011. 00057. x.
6. de Bary, W. T. (1988). East Asian civilizations: A dialogue in five stages. Boston: Harvard University Press.
7. Dervic, K., Grunebaum, M. F., Burke, A. K., Mann, J. J., & Oquendo, M. A. (2006). Protective factors against suicidal behavior in depressed adults reporting childhood abuse. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 194, 971-974. doi: 10. 1097/01. nmd. 0000243764. 56192. 9c.
8. Durkheim, E. (1951). Suicide: A study in sociology. New York: Free Press. (Original work published in 1897).
9. Elman, B. A. (2005). On their own terms: Science in China, 1550-1900. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
10. Eskin, M. (2004). The effects of religious versus secular education on suicide ideation and suicidal attitudes in adolescents in Turkey. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 39, 536-542. doi: 10. 1007/s00127-004-0769-x.
11. Eskin, M., Ertekin, K., Dereboy, C., & Demirkiran, F. (2007). Risk factors for and protective factors against adolescent suicidal behavior in Turkey. Crisis, 28, 131-139. doi: 10. 1027/0227-5910. 28. 3. 131.
12. Fingarette, H. (1972). Confucious-the secular as sacred. New York: Harper Torchbooks.
13. Girard, C. (1993). Age, gender, and suicide: A cross-national analysis. American Sociological Review, 58, 553-574. doi: 10. 2307/2096076.
14. Hawton, K. (2000). Sex and suicide: Gender differences in suicidal behaviour. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 177, 484-485. doi: 10. 1192/bjp. 177. 6. 484.
15. Hee Ahn, M., Park, S., Ha, K., Choi, S. H., & Hong, J. P. (2012). Gender ratio comparisons of the suicide rates and methods in Korea, Japan, Australia, and the United States. Journal of Affective Disorders, 142, 161-165. doi: 10. 1016/j. jad. 2012. 05. 008.
16. Hsu, F. L. K. (1998). Confucianism in comparative context. In W. H. Slote & G. A. De Vos (Eds.), Confucianism and the family (pp. 537-571). Albany: State University of New York Press.
17. Hwang, K.-K. (1999). Filial piety and loyalty: Two types of social identification in Confucianism. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 2, 163-183. doi: 10. 1111/1467-839x. 00031.
18. Ikels, C. (2004). Introduction. In C. Ikels (Ed.), Filial piety: Practice and discourse in contemporary East Asia (pp. 1-15). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
19. Jacka, T. (1997). Women's work in rural China: Change and continuity in an era of reform. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
20. King, A. Y. C., & Bond, M. H. (1985). The Confucian paradigm of man: A sociological view. In W. S. Tseng & D. Y. H. Wu (Eds.), Chinese culture and mental health (pp. 29-45). Orlando: Academic.
21. Kraemer, H. C., Measelle, J. R., Ablow, J. C., Essex, M. J., Boyce, W. T., & Kupfer, D. J. (2003). A new approach to integrating data from multiple informants in psychiatric assessment and research: Mixing and matching contexts and perspectives. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 1566-1577. doi: 10. 1176/appi. ajp. 160. 9. 1566.
22. Li, Y., Li, Y., & Cao, J. (2012). Factors associated with suicidal behaviors in mainland China: A meta-analysis. BMC Public Health, 12, 524-530. doi: 10. 1186/1471-2458-12-524.
23. Malone, K. M., Oquendo, M. A., Haas, G. L., Ellis, S. P., Li, S., & Mann, J. J. (2000). Protective factors against suicidal acts in major depression: Reasons for living. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 1084-1088. doi: 10. 1176/appi. ajp. 157. 7. 1084.
24. Marty, M. A., Segal, D. L., & Coolidge, F. L. (2010). Relationships among dispositional coping strategies, suicidal ideation, and protective factors against suicide in older adults. Aging and Mental Health, 14, 1015-1023. doi: 10. 1080/13607863. 2010. 501068.
25. Möller-Leimkühler, A. M. (2003). The gender gap in suicide and premature death or: Why are men so vulnerable? European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 253, 1-8. doi: 10. 1007/s00406-003-0397-6.
26. Neeleman, J., Wessely, S., & Lewis, G. (1998). Suicide acceptability in African and White Americans: The role of religion. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 186, 12-16. doi: 10. 1097/00005053-199801000-00003.
27. Oquendo, M. A., Dragatsi, D., Harkavy-Friedman, J., Dervic, K., Currier, D., Burke, A. K., Mann, J. J. (2005). Protective factors against suicidal behavior in Latinos. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 193, 438-443. doi: 10. 1097/01. nmd. 0000168262. 06163. 31.
28. Payne, S., Swami, V., & Stanistreet, D. L. (2008). The social construction of gender and its influence on suicide: A review of the literature. Journal of Men's Health, 5, 23-35. doi: 10. 1016/j. jomh. 2007. 11. 002.
29. Phillips, M. R., Li, X., & Zhang, Y. (2002). Suicide rates in China, 1995-99. The Lancet, 359, 835-840. doi: 10. 1016/S0140-6736(02)07954-0.
30. Rich, C., Ricketts, J., Fowler, R., & Young, D. (1988). Some differences between men and women who commit suicide. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 718-722.
31. Rofel, L. (1999). Other modernities: Gendered yearnings in china after socialism. Berkeley: University of California Press.
32. Schrijvers, D. (2012). The gender paradox in suicidal behavior and its impact on the suicidal process. Journal of Affective Disorders, 138, 19-26. doi: 10. 1016/j. jad. 2011. 03. 050.
33. Slote, W. H. (1998). Psychocultural dynamics within the Confucian family. In W. H. Slote & G. A. De Vos (Eds.), Confucianism and the family (pp. 37-51). Albany: State University of New York Press.
34. Solomon, R. H. (1971). Mao's revolution and the Chinese political culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.
35. Stack, S. (1983). The effect of religious commitment on suicide: A cross-national analysis. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 362-374. doi: 10. 2307/2136402.
36. Stack, S. (1998). Gender, marriage, and suicide acceptability: A comparative analysis. Sex Roles, 38, 501-520. doi: 10. 1023/a: 1018770124576.
37. Stack, S. (2000). Suicide: A 15-year review of the sociological literature, part II: Modernization and social integration. Suicide and Life-threatening Behavior, 30, 163-176. doi: 10. 1111/j. 1943-278X. 2000. tb01074. x.
38. Stack, S., & Kposowa, A. J. (2011). Religion and suicide acceptability: A cross-national analysis. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 50, 289-306. doi: 10. 1111/j. 1468-5906. 2011. 01568. x.
39. Steffensmeier, R. H. (1984). Suicide and the contemporary woman: Are male and female suicide rates converging? Sex Roles, 10, 613-631. doi: 10. 1007/bf00287269.
40. Streng, F. (1985). Understanding religious life (3rd ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth.
41. Taiwan Government. (2003). Taiwan yearbook 2003. Retrieved from http://www. stat. gov. tw/bs2/2002YearBook. pdf.
42. Tu, W., Hejtmanek, M., & Wachman, A. (Eds.). (1992). The Confucian world observed: A contemporary discussion of Confucian humanism in East Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
43. Värnik, A., Kõlves, K., van der Feltz-Cornelis, C. M., Marusic, A., Oskarsson, H., Palmer, A., Hegerl, U. (2008). Suicide methods in Europe: A gender-specific analysis of countries participating in the "European Alliance Against Depression". Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 62, 545-551. doi: 10. 1136/jech. 2007. 065391.
44. Vijayakumar, L., John, S., Pirkis, J., & Whiteford, H. (2005). Suicide in developing countries (2): Risk factors. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 26, 112-119. doi: 10. 1027/0227-5910. 26. 3. 112.
45. Wang, S., Li, Y., Chi, G., Xiao, S., Ozanne-Smith, J., Stevenson, M., et al. (2008). Injury-related fatalities in China: An under-recognised public-health problem. The Lancet, 372, 1765-1773. doi: 10. 1016/S0140-6736(08)61367-7.
46. Webster, R. F., Ferrada-Noli, M., & Skolbekken, J.-A. (2003). Questions of culture, age and gender in the epidemiology of suicide. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 44, 373-381. doi: 10. 1111/1467-9450. 00357.
47. WHO, W. H. O. (2009). Suicide Prevention (SUPRE). Retrieved from http://www. who. int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/.
48. Yang, C. K. (1959). Chinese communist society: The family and the village. Boston: MIT Press.
49. Zhang, J. (2000). Gender differences in athletic performance and their implications in gender ratios of suicide: A comparison between the USA and China. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 41, 117-123. doi: 10. 2190/K1K2-MUW6-9YGG-PVBK.
50. Zhang, J. (2010). Marriage and suicide among Chinese rural young women. Social Forces, 89, 311-326. doi: 10. 1353/sof. 2010. 0065.
51. Zhang, J., & Lester, D. (2008). Psychological tensions found in suicide notes: A test for the strain theory of suicide. Archives of Suicide Research, 12, 67-73. doi: 10. 1080/13811110701800962.
52. Zhang, J., Wieczorek, W. F., Jiang, C., Zhou, L., Jia, S., Sun, Y., Conwell, Y. (2002). Studying suicide with psychological autopsy: Social and cultural feasibilities of the methodology in China. Suicide and Life-threatening Behavior, 32, 370-379. doi: 10. 1521/suli. 32. 4. 370. 22342.
53. Zhang, J., Conwell, Y., Zhou, L., & Jiang, C. (2004). Culture, risk factors and suicide in rural China: A psychological autopsy case control study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 110, 430-437. doi: 10. 1111/j. 1600-0447. 2004. 00388. x.
54. Zhang, J., Dong, N., Delprino, R., & Zhou, L. (2009). Psychological strains found from in-depth interviews with 105 Chinese rural youth suicides. Archives of Suicide Research, 13, 185-194. doi: 10. 1080/13811110902835155.
55. Zhang, J., Wieczorek, W. F., Conwell, Y., Tu, X. M., Wu, B. Y. W., Xiao, S., et al. (2010). Characteristics of young rural Chinese suicides: A psychological autopsy study. Psychological Medicine, 40, 581-589. doi: 10. 1017/S0033291709990808.
56. Zhang, J., Jing, J., Wu, X., Sun, W., & Wang, C. (2011a). A sociological analysis of the decline in the suicide rate in China. Social Sciences in China, 2011, 97-113.
57. Zhang, J., Li, N., Tu, X.-M., Xiao, S., & Jia, C. (2011b). Risk factors for rural young suicide in China: A case-control study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 129, 244-251. doi: 10. 1016/j. jad. 2010. 09. 008.
58. Zhang, J., Wieczorek, W. F., Conwell, Y., & Tu, X. M. (2011c). Psychological strains and youth suicide in rural China. Social Science & Medicine, 72, 2003-2010. doi: 10. 1016/j. socscimed. 2011. 03. 048.
59. Zhang, J., Tan, J., & Lester, D. (2013). Psychological strains found in the suicides of 72 celebrities. Journal of Affective Disorders, 149, 230-234. doi: 10. 1016/j. jad. 2013. 01. 031.