SOC212 - 7. Suicide

Question 1

Introduction

Answer 1

Suicide takes place across all age groups (teens, middle-aged + elderly)
process, not a just a single act, that varies between groups, situations + time periods.

Question 2

Suicidal Behaviour

Answer 2

defined as intentional and deliberate destruction of one’s own life.
In Canada, 3700 to 4000 people commit suicide annually.

Question 3

Suicidal Behaviour

Answer 3

Second highest cause of death for youth in Canada

Euthanasia is suicide motivated by desire to avoid suffering that results from disease or injury

Question 4

Suicidal Behaviour

Answer 4

Death caused indirectly by actions without immediate lethal consequences may also amount to suicide

Question 5

Vulnerability

Answer 5

factors that make an individual vulnerable to suicidal behaviour include:
• Mental illness
• Abuse
• Loss of a loved one early in life

Question 6

Vulnerability

Answer 6

• Family history of suicide
• Long-term difficulty with peer relationships
not causal, but combinations can result in suicide

Question 7

Public Attitudes

Answer 7

majority of countries condemn suicide
Some countries have historically approved suicide.
Legal prohibitions - against state’s laws/religion
economy crumbles without ppl

Question 8

Public Attitudes

Answer 8

Social acceptance or condemnation of suicide varies
associated with stigma of mental illness
some countries accept suicide - shame, widows (Japan)
condemnation varies depending on religion and education

Question 9

Attempted Suicide

Answer 9

Suicide attempts may number as many as 20x total number of successful suicides
Women attempt suicide more frequently than men; however, men are more successful

Question 10

Attempted Suicide

Answer 10

CAMH: 200 attempts per day

most occur in settings that encourage or allow intervention by others

Question 11

Reporting Issues

Answer 11

Problems with providing statistics on suicide
Media portrayal
Variance in rates - underreported by authorities and media

Question 12

Reporting Issues

Answer 12

insurance claims: cover ups by family + friends
in response to social stigma
sensitive topic in conversations
when it comes to celebrities - insensitive

Question 13

Reporting Issues

Answer 13

rates fluctuates with economy + war - great depression - went up to 17.4 in 100,000
differ by country + within countries (regions, gender, age)
go down around holidays
rates within military have gone up

Question 14

Differences

Answer 14

Gender Differences

Men tend to use more dangerous or immediately lethal (guns) means than women (chemical or knives)

Question 15

Differences

Answer 15

Age Differences
Men’s suicide rates increase with age, while women’s rates peak at 45 to 54 years of age.
rates increase with age

Question 16

Differences

Answer 16

Race: In the U.S., White people kill themselves at substantially higher rates than that occur among African Americans. In Canada, Aboriginal and First Nations communities have extremely high suicide rates

Question 17

Differences

Answer 17

Marital Status: Married people commit suicide at
lower rates than single, divorced, or widowed people.
social support, economic support

Question 18

Differences

Answer 18

Religion: Suicide rates of Catholics fall below those of Protestants

Question 19

Differences

Answer 19

Sexuality & Gender Identity: LGBT youth face approximately 14x risk of suicide + substance abuse than their heterosexual peers

Question 20

Differences

Answer 20

77% of trans respondents in an Ontario-based survey had seriously considered suicide + 45% had attempted suicide

Question 21

Differences

Answer 21

inverse relationship with education
depression - often undiagnosed and untreated
Occupation and Social Status:
Those with less education are twice as likely to commit

Question 22

Differences

Answer 22

suicide than those with most education

Occupational status, by itself, doesn’t effectively predict suicide

Question 23

Differences

Answer 23

mental illness: depression
often undiagnosed and untreated
suicide result of combination of diff things

Question 24

Durkheim’s Suicide

Answer 24

Durkheim saw suicide as result of degree of social intergration + regulation in a society
prevalence of group unity + strength of ties binding people together.

Question 25

Durkheim’s Suicide

Answer 25

Suicide is not individual phenomenon, but consequence of social organization and social structure

Question 26

Durkheim’s Suicide

Answer 26

``` Types of Suicide • Altruistic • Egoistic • Anomie • Fatalistic ```

Question 27

Altruistic Suicide

Answer 27

Suicide for benefit of others or community Does not necessarily constitute a deviation religious rites, warfare, illness, reaction to violating diff norms, military seen as duty, noble, deviant if we don’t taking a bullet for president

Question 28

Egoistic Suicide

Answer 28

Excessive individualism + low social integration committed by people who are not strongly supported more individual

Question 29

Anomic Suicide

Answer 29

Suicide when individuals feel “lost” or normless in situations (life has no more meaning) governed by confused or disrupted social values Downward social mobility (stock market crashes)

Question 30

Fatalistic Suicide

Answer 30

Excessive regulation Occurs in social conditions where the individual experiences pervasive oppression rare (prison suicide, slavery)

Question 31

Social and Religious Integration

Answer 31

Durkheim’s theory asserts that greater social integration produces a lower suicide rate integration protective risk factor

Question 32

Social and Religious Integration

Answer 32

Suicidal behavior displays an inverse relationship to the stability of social relations among people + extent to which social institutions, whether religion, family, or others, integrate them together

Question 33

Theories of Suicide

Answer 33

``` Status Integration: status + class influences suicide rate Status Frustration: status in relation to others, causing aggression which leads to suicide ```

Question 34

Theories of Suicide

Answer 34

Community Migration: dealing with life changes + new culture, low social supports Socialization of Suicide: learn how to commit suicide

Question 35

The Suicide Process

Answer 35

Ringel (1977) identified 3 principal components of predictable suicide syndrome 1) Constricting/narrowing alternatives, leaving problems with an all-consuming image and no way out except suicide

Question 36

The Suicide Process

Answer 36

2) certain aggressive response directed toward oneself, perhaps leading to self-blame for an unfortunate accident or some other trauma in one’s life;

Question 37

The Suicide Process

Answer 37

3) Indulgence in suicidal fantasies that construct and mentally play out suicidal acts. suicide process involves unsuccessful attempts of finding alternatives to multiple problems seen as the last resort

Question 38

Social Meanings of Suicide

Answer 38

Suicide, Mental Disorders, and Hopelessness: People who commit suicide do not express any identity as mentally deranged or suffer from temporary insanity.

Question 39

Social Meanings of Suicide

Answer 39

learn to commit suicide + associate certain benefits link with mental illness is hopelessness do not express identity of deranged

Question 40

Social Meanings of Suicide

Answer 40

Most suicides follow rational planning + careful execution with no more evidence of mental disorder many have multiple attempts

Question 41

Social Meanings of Suicide

Answer 41

Among mental disorders, severe depression seems to bear most common association with suicide by creating suicidal through (suicide ideation) or behavior.

Question 42

Social Meanings of Suicide

Answer 42

suicide ideation: steps | the more complex the plan is, more danger + greater likelihood of success

Question 43

Preventing Suicide

Answer 43

Efforts to prevent suicide rely heavily on identification of social forces that ultimately produce suicide

Question 44

Preventing Suicide

Answer 44

Research has identified a number of risk factors Suicide Prevention Centres no way to know unless in therapy or tells someone

Question 45

Teen Suicide

Answer 45

Adolescents cannot evaluate their immediate difficulties in perspective of lifelong events (Clinard & Meyer) more attention paid onto teen suicide second leading cause of death for youth in canada can’t evaluate (perspective) immediate problems

Question 46

Teen Suicide

Answer 46

High rates of LGBTQ youth suicide: syndemics greater mental illness more of a reaction to homophobic culture

Question 47

Teen Suicide

Answer 47

internal homophobia 14x more likely to commit suicide great percent of gay youth attempt suicide

Question 48

Suicide in Canada

Answer 48

10.8 in 100,000 national suicide rate (2011 – Stats Canada) ontario: 8 per 100000 - lowest in country nunavut: 77 per 100000 fairly stable rates, small fluctuation 2009 - 100000 years lost of human life due to suicde peaked in late 70s - 25 for men

Question 49

Suicide in Canada

Answer 49

16.3 in 100,000 for men 5.4 in 100,000 in women Regional Differences Military: jumps after discharge

Question 50

Suicide in Canada

Answer 50

Aboriginal & Indigenous Population: 2-7x higher rates aboriginal youth: 11x higher combination of substance abuse, fetal alcohol, family seperation, abuse, poverty, unemployment, assimilation, intergenerational effects

Question 51

Global Suicide

Answer 51

Every 40 seconds someone commits suicide (WHO) our rates are kind of low million commit suicide every year

Question 52

Global Suicide

Answer 52

2012 - 1.45% of all deaths in world 15th leading cause of death Factors mental illness

Question 53

Global Suicide

Answer 53

structural reasons: poverty, economic hardship substance abuse with each economic crisis rates go up hopelessness intermingled with poverty

Question 54

Suicide in Japan

Answer 54

18.7 in 100,000 Leading cause of death function of suicide in military - seen as morally responsible on occasion since 90s, going up disproportionately leading cause of death for men 20-24, women 15-20

Question 55

Suicide in Japan

Answer 55

National social issue Cultural tolerance: more tolerant, mostly in history Factors breadwinner ideology - feel like a failure - shame depression, social pressures, high social expectations, forced retirement

Question 56

Suicide in Japan

Answer 56

economic changes - more difficult to get a job for life overworked 1/4 financially motivated - debt - commit suicide to lift burden on family forest: eerie silent forest where ppl commit suicide

Question 57

Euthanasia in Canada

Answer 57

Passive Euthanasia: withdrawing life saving procedure, withholding water Active Euthanasia: intentional killing to relieve pain considered to be murder

Question 58

Euthanasia in Canada

Answer 58

Sue Rodriguez: had als, asked court to let someone help her commit suicide her main argument appealed to equality and justice suicide is not a crime, she was being discriminated against, her disability made it so that she could not commit suicide

Question 59

Euthanasia in Canada

Answer 59

Sue Rodriguez: On February 6, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that the law banning assisted suicide was unconstitutional