Publication year: 2011
Source: Social Science & Medicine, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 14 May 2011
Jie, Zhang , William F., Wieczorek , Yeates, Conwell , Xin Ming, Tu
The strain theory of suicide postulates that suicide is usually preceded by psychological strains. A strain can be a consequence of any of four conflicts: differential values, aspiration and reality, relative deprivation, and lack of coping skills for a crisis. This study, with a blend of psychiatric and social predictors of suicide, identified correlates of suicide that are relevant to Chinese culture and tested the strain theory of suicide with Chinese data. We sampled 392 suicides and 416 living controls (both aged 15-34 years) from 16 rural counties in China in 2008 and interviewed two informants for each suicide and…
Highlights: ► One of the largest psychological autopsy studies in the world. ► Blend between psychiatric and social predictors of suicide. ► Theory testing with data from China 4. Marriage and religiosity are not protective factors of suicide in rural China. ► The strain theory of suicide as a challenge to the psychiatric model.