The role of culture in a suicidal process

Abstract

Culture plays a significant role in the suicidal process. Researchers attribute variations in suicidal behaviours across societies to divergences in manifestations of culture. However, scholarly work mostly fails to understand what culture is, and how to conceptualize and measure this over-encompassing and elusive phenomenon. This chapter first surveys the nature of suicidal behaviour and its intersocietal variation, and then discusses the concept of culture and its relevance to suicidology. It also outlines how culture might be involved in the suicidal process, as well as some methodological considerations. The chapter chooses three cultural manifestations that scientific work previously identified as representing cross-cultural variations. The three cultural manifestations are religion, individualism–collectivism, and self-construal. Then it surveys the scientific work on the relations of religion, individualism–collectivism, and self-construal with suicidal behaviour. The chapter ends with some conclusions and recommendations for future scientific work.