NCJ Number
189924
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 30 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2001 Pages: 333-348
Date Published
June 2001
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study examined social strains that contribute to suicidal behavior among adolescents, with attention to gender differences.
Abstract
Scholars such as Durkheim and Chodorow have argued that the social strains that contribute to suicide vary by gender. Specifically, they have asserted that women, compared to men, either do not respond to social strain with suicide or respond to relational but not status strains. Conversely, others assert that process differences never existed between the sexes, or at the least have dissipated with increasing equality between the subgroups. Neither side in this debate has offered convincing empirical evidence for its position. To provide empirical data analysis in this debate, the current study analyzed the adolescent health data collected as part of the Add Health Project, a large school-based study of the health-related behaviors of adolescents in grades 7-12. It contains measures of a wide variety of health behaviors, such as substance use, diet, physical disability, and suicidality. It also identifies correlates of such behavior, examining individual, family, peer, school, and community characteristics. The dependent variable for the current study was attempted suicide. Results clearly supported the presence of process differences and delineated the specific nature of these differences between the sexes. Generally, males and females were responsive to both status and relational strains; however, theoretical models that suggested males were more status oriented while females were more relationally dependent were supported. Results hold theoretical and interventionist implications for the contextual nature of suicide among adolescents. 2 tables and 57 references