Socioeconomic Factors and Suicide: A Sociological Analysis

Introduction: Social and Economic Roots of Suicide

Research conducted in Australia concluded that social factors are responsible for mental disorders and the rise in suicide cases. It is therefore important to implement policies that can address social and economic conditions; such measures should be implemented "beyond the provision of mental health services." At present, socioeconomic conditions are considered to have only a minor impact on suicide attempts, and research has largely attributed such behavior to the mental disorders of affected individuals. However, a closer review of victims' backgrounds reveals that socioeconomic characteristics have compelled them to risk their lives through such acts. Social and economic characteristics include education level, occupational status, income source, and employment status.

The decline in socioeconomic status within a society is directly linked to an increase in suicide rates. This trend was most pronounced among working-age employed individuals; "government benefit as the main income source and unemployment were associated with higher rates of mental disorders and suicide attempts." Research has also found that suicide attempts are more common among females than males: "women showed a stronger association of substance use disorder with suicide attempts than men." It was further observed that males showed deeper associations with "suicide attempts and anxiety disorders than women" (Durkheim, 1933), although there was a "higher prevalence of substance use disorders in men and anxiety disorders in women."

It was concluded that such behavior is rooted in social causation — "the significant socioeconomic status relationship with suicide attempts, after taking mental illness into account, suggested an independent relationship between status and suicide attempts." It has further been concluded that medical diagnosis and treatment are not effective remedial measures for minimizing suicide attempts, and that such attempts should not be considered an individual phenomenon. Material life circumstances are considered a catalyst that forces people toward such attempts, as it is particularly difficult for those at the lower end of the social spectrum to overcome socioeconomic hardship. Programs and initiatives that enhance perceived life prospects — improving employment opportunities and job security — are believed to lower rates of suicide attempts.

Socioeconomic Status and Suicide Rates

In America, although extensive research has been carried out on suicide, a wide range of social and economic considerations have been linked to rising suicide rates. Socioeconomic factors have been shown to have a proportional relationship with higher rates of suicide. Research conducted at the community level has not always established a direct relationship between suicide rates and socioeconomic conditions; however, higher rates of suicide have been demonstrated in places under strong socioeconomic stress. It was observed that suicide rates have an inverse relationship with poverty and deprivation factors, while financial stringency is considered to have a direct relationship with suicide rates. Measures including unemployment and illiteracy, as well as professional affiliation, are considered to have an inverse variation with suicide rates. Notably, it was observed that suicide rates in these studies were not determined by gender or by study design (David, 2004).

Immigration, Community-Level Factors, and Suicide

According to research, immigration is also directly related to suicide, and such cases are mainly linked to the economic difficulties faced by immigrants in their new country. Cultural disparity and lowered social integration are associated with rising suicide cases among immigrant populations. A report based on multiple regression analysis indicated that the incidence of suicide is directly related to immigration; it affected "two control variables: the proportion of the population over 65, and female participation in the labor force." It was observed that a single percentage point rise in immigration is associated with a 0.13% increase in suicide attempts. The study concluded that "our control variables are somewhat more important than the rate of long-term immigration" (Durkheim, 1933).

Durkheim's Theory: Social Currents and Seasonal Variation

It was earlier believed that suicide is a personal act, based on personal psychology and purely individual thought processes. Durkheim linked the adoption of suicide by an individual to the persistent influence of "nonmaterial social facts and social currents" (Cuff, 1992). Social currents are linked to social movements directly related to social spirits, including "enthusiasm, indignation, and pity" (Cuff, 1992), and do not carry "the permanence and stability that some parts of collective consciousness or collective representation has encompassed." Durkheim attempted to establish a connection between sociological factors and this anti-social phenomenon. Social currents serve as basic indicators of suicide rates and also highlight variation among nations in suicide attempts: "these rates show regularities over time, with changes in the rates often occurring at similar times in different societies."

It has been observed that within a given nation, particular historic events have influenced suicide practices and that rates have fluctuated accordingly. "The relative intensity of this aptitude is measured by taking the proportion between the total number of voluntary deaths and the population of every age and sex" (Hawton, 2001), which is referred to as the rate of mortality through suicide. The suicide rate is therefore regarded as a "factual order, unified and definite." Suicide rates are collectively influenced and are based on a "predisposition to contribute a definite quota of voluntary deaths." Previously, other geographic factors — including heredity, climate, and race — as well as personal factors such as individual psychopathic states and imitation, were associated with suicide rates.

Durkheim concluded that during summer months there is a rise in suicide rates irrespective of national affiliation. He observed that "the proportion of suicides in the six warmer months to the six colder months is very similar in each country." It was therefore concluded that heat is responsible for increasing the "excitability of the nervous system" (Hawton, 2001); however, depression and excitement are other major factors that elevate suicide rates. Durkheim also concluded that temperature variations affect suicide rates: "suicides increase in number as temperature increases; suicides reach a peak before the temperature does." He further observed a direct relationship between suicide rates and the length of day, with "suicides increasing as the days grow longer, and decreasing in number as the length of day declines" (Durkheim, 1938).

Surprisingly, during noon, when the sun is at its peak, suicide rates were reported to be at a minimum; therefore, sunlight itself is not considered the primary cause of rising suicide rates. Durkheim concluded that it was neither the season, the time of day, nor the temperature that caused the rise in suicide, but rather the level of social interaction, which is extremely high during summer months. It was observed that from March to July, the social life of individuals intensifies, and therefore "the greater ease of development of social life in the summer than in the winter" is responsible for changes in social behavior that, in the worst cases, can be deadly through suicide.

Conclusion: Social Causation, Gender, and Policy Implications

It has been reported that more than 25% of people in the age group of 16–24 years are involved in actions related to suicide. Two common explanations for the link between suicide and socioeconomic conditions are social causation, based on social and economic circumstances that determine the nature of mental health, and social selection, in which people are driven to suicide by adverse mental conditions arising from the deterioration of social factors. Education and occupational categories have great influence on socioeconomic characteristics, which in turn give rise to suicide cases. However, it has been observed that in cases of mental disability or illness, social and economic conditions may have a reduced impact on the suicide rate, with individual mental health factors playing a more prominent role.

Suicide rates are also shaped by gender differences, and the mental and emotional factors associated with gender discrimination, victimization, and persecution contribute to the rise in suicide rates, with such cases reported more frequently in women than in men. Research has found "higher self-reported levels of physical and psychiatric morbidity in women but lower mortality due to sociocultural factors associated with gender roles" (Cuff, 1992). The differential severity of mental disorder across genders has a measurable impact on suicide cases. These findings reinforce the argument that suicide must be addressed as a social phenomenon, requiring structural policy interventions that extend well beyond medical treatment alone.

References

Goodman, E. The role of socioeconomic status gradients in explaining differences in U.S. adolescents' health. American Journal of Public Health. 1999. pp. 89.

Hawton, K., Harris, L., Hodder, K. The influence of the economic and social environment on deliberate self-harm and suicide: an ecological and person-based study. Psychological Medicine. 2001. pp. 31.

Cuff, E.C., W.W. Sharrock and D.W. Francis. Perspectives in Sociology. Routledge, 1992. pp. 176.

Durkheim, Emile. The Division of Labor in Society. The Free Press. 1933. pp. 249.

Durkheim, Emile. The Rules of Sociological Method. The Free Press. 1938. pp. 98.