Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T23:29:15.809Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Economic growth and suicide rate changes: A case in China from 1982 to 2005

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

J. Zhang ,
J. Ma ,
C. Jia ,
J. Sun ,
X. Guo ,
A. Xu  and
W. Li
J. Zhang
Affiliation:
Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China State University of New York College, Buffalo, USA
J. Ma
Affiliation:
Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jinan, China
C. Jia*
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Shandong University, Jinan250012, Shandong, China
J. Sun
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
X. Guo
Affiliation:
Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jinan, China
A. Xu
Affiliation:
Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jinan, China
W. Li
Affiliation:
Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jinan, China
*
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 531 88382141. E-mail address: [email protected] (C. Jia).
Get access

Abstract

Objectives

It is to estimate the trend of suicide rate changes during the past three decades in China and try to identify its social and economic correlates.

Methods

Official data of suicide rates and economic indexes during 1982–2005 from Shandong Province of China were analyzed. The suicide data were categorized for the rural / urban location and gender, and the economic indexes include GDP, GDP per capita, rural income, and urban income, all adjusted for inflation.

Results

We found a significant increase of economic development and decrease of suicide rates over the past decades under study. The suicide rate decrease is correlated with the tremendous growth of economy.

Conclusion

The unusual decrease of Chinese suicide rates in the past decades is accounted for within the Chinese cultural contexts and maybe by the Strain Theory of Suicide.

Keywords

Suicide rateEconomic growthChinaCultureStrain Theory of suicide
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , April 2010 , pp. 159 - 163
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier Masson SAS 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Burr, JA, McCall, PL, Powell-Griner, EFemale labor force participation and suicide. Social Sci Med 1997;44:1847–1859.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chang, SS, Gunnell, D, Sterne, JAC, Lu, TH, Cheng, ATAWas the economic crisis 1997–1998 responsible for rising suicide rates in east/southeast Asia? A time-trend analysis for Japan, Hong-Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. Soc Sci Med 2009;68:1322–1331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durkheim, ESuicide: A study in sociology. New York: Free Press; Original work published in 1897. 1951.Google Scholar
Hill, SA, Pritchard, C, Laugharne, R, Gunnell, DChanging patterns of suicide in a poor, rural county over the 20th century: A comparison with national trends. Social Psychiatr Psychiatr Epidemiol 2005;40:601–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kapusta, ND, Zorman, A, Etzersdorfer, E, Ponocny-Seliger, E, Jandl-Jager, E, Sonneck, GRural−urban differences in Austrian suicides. Social Psychiatr Psychiatr Epidemiol 2008;43:311–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lucey, S, Corcoran, P, Keeley, HS, Brophy, J, Arensman, E, Perry, IJSocioeconomic change and suicide: A time-series study from the republic of Ireland. Crisis 2005;26:90–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lester, DAn empirical examination of Thomas Masaryk's theory of suicide. Arch Suicide Res 1997;3:125–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, L, Wang, HM, Ye, XJ, Jiang, M.M, Lou, QY, Hesketh, TThe mental health status of Chinese rural–urban migrant workers: Comparison with permanent urban and rural dwellers. Soc Psychiatr Psychiatr Epidemiol 2007;42:716–722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mäkinen, IAre there social correlates to suicide?. Social Sci Med 1997;44:1919–1929.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
NBSC: China statistical yearbook. Beijing, China Statistics Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Phillips, MR, Li, X, Zhang, YSuicide rates in China, 1995–99. Lancet 2002;359:835–840.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qin, P, Mortensen, PBSpecific characteristics of suicide in China. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia 2001;103:117–121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ru, X, Lu, X, Li, PBlue book of China's society: 2005 analysis and forecast on china's social development. Beijing: Social Science Literature Publisher; 2004.Google Scholar
Simpson, ME, Conklin, GHSocioeconomic development, suicide and religion: A test of Durkheim's theory of religion and suicide. Social Forces 1989;67:945–964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stack, SThe effect of modernization on suicide in Finland: 1800–1984. Sociological Perspective 1993;36:137–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stack, SSuicide: A 15-year review of the sociological literature, part ii: Modernization and social integration. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 2000;30:163–176.Google ScholarPubMed
SPSB SPSB: Shandong statistical yearbook, 2005;Beijing:China Statistics Publishers.Google Scholar
Yang, X, Na, J, Yu, L, Yan, T, Xu, W, Pan, Wet al.The trend of urban suicide in Liaoning province during 1992–2003. Chinese J Prevent Control Chronic Non-Common Dis 2008;16:200–201.Google Scholar
Yang, F, Tamney, JExploring mass conversion to Christianity among the Chinese: An introduction. Sociology of Religion: A Quarterly Review 2006;67:125–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, G, Zhou, L, Huang, Z, Chen, AThe trend and geographic distribution of suicide in Chinese population. Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing Xue Za Zhi 2004;25:280–284 (in Chinese)Google ScholarPubMed
Yip, P, Liu, K, Hu, J, Song, XSuicide rates in china during a decade of rapid social changes. Soc Psychiatr Psychiatr Epidemiol 2005;40:792–798.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, JUnderstanding Chinese suicide with a comparison of national data. Am Rev China Stud 2000;1:9–29.Google Scholar
Zhang, WMental health in China: Current status and prevention and control of mental disorders. Chinese Med J 2003;116:1574–1577.Google ScholarPubMed
Zhang, JConceptualizing a strain theory of suicide (review). Chinese Mental Health J 2005 778–782.Google Scholar
Zhang, J, Lester, DPsychological tensions found in suicide notes: A test for the strain theory of suicide. Arch Suicide Res 2008;12:67–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, J, Song, ZA preliminary test of the strain theory of suicide. Chinese J Behavioral Med Sci 2006;15:487–489.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.