Objective-Previous research on sociocultural factors for Chinese suicide have been basically limited to single case studies or qualitative research with ethnographic methodology. The current study examines the major risk factors and some cultural uniqueness related to Chinese rural suicide using a quantitative design.Method-This is a case control study with 66 completed suicides and 66 living controls obtained from psychological autopsy interviews in rural China.Results-Both bivariate analyses and the multiple regression model have found that the Chinese rural suicide patterns are basically similar to those in most other cultures in the world: strong predictors of rural Chinese suicide are the psychopathological, psychological, and physical health variables, followed by social support and negative and stressful life events. Other significant correlates include lower education, poverty, religion, and family disputes.Conclusion-Culture has an important impact on suicide patterns in a society.

Objective The authors examined the prevalence and distribution of mental disorders in rural Chinese 15–34 years of age who committed suicide. They hypothesized that mental illness is a risk factor for suicide in this population and that the prevalence of mental illness is lower in females than in males. Method In this case-control psychological autopsy study, face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect information from proxy informants for 392 suicide victims and 416 living comparison subjects. Five categories of DSM-IV mental disorders (mood disorders, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, substance use disorders, anxiety disorders, and other axis I disorders) at the time of death or interview were assessed using the Chinese version of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Sociodemographic variables, social support, and life events were also assessed. Results The prevalence of current mental illness was 48.0% for suicide victims and 3.8% for comparison subjects. Among suicide victims, mental illness was more prevalent in males than in females (55.1% compared with 39.3%). A strong association between mental illness and suicide was observed after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics. Other risk factors included having a lower education level, not being currently married, having a lower level of social support, and having a history of recent and long-term life events. Additive interactions were observed between mental illness and lower level of social support. Conclusions Although mental illness is a strong risk factor for suicide, it is less prevalent among rural Chinese young people who committed suicide, particularly females, in comparison with other populations in China and in the West.

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Purpose This paper reports on a critical literature review, which aimed to identify, understand and qualify barriers that hinder the release of open government data (OGD) in China. Moreover, the purpose of this paper is to develop and propose a theoretical framework, which can be adopted as a basis for empirical investigation in the future, and to articulate mitigating strategies. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted an inductive qualitative approach, retrieving 42 academic articles from three main Chinese academic databases: CNKI, Wanfang and CQVIP. A thematic analysis approach was employed for the literature analysis. Findings The literature analysis pointed to 15 barriers to the release of OGD in China. Furthermore, the barriers emerged in the following three main themes: institutional barriers, data integrity and quality barriers, and user participation barriers. Originality/value This paper reports on one of the early research efforts into the problems of releasing OGD in China. Although this study focusses on Chinese context and issues, the findings and lessons learnt can be shared across international borders.

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China Mental Health Survey (CMHS), which was carried out from July 2013 to March 2015, was the first national representative community survey of mental disorders and mental health services in China using computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI). Face-to-face interviews were finished in the homes of respondents who were selected from a nationally representative multi-stage disproportionate stratified sampling procedure. Sample selection was integrated with the National Chronic Disease and Risk Factor Surveillance Survey administered by the National Centre for Chronic and Non-communicable Disease Control and Prevention in 2013, which made it possible to obtain both physical and mental health information of Chinese community population. One-stage design of data collection was used in the CMHS to obtain the information of mental disorders, including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance use disorders, while two-stage design was applied for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, and dementia. A total of 28,140 respondents finished the survey with 72.9% of the overall response rate. This paper describes the survey mode, fieldwork organization, procedures, and the sample design and weighting of the CMHS. Detailed information is presented on the establishment of a new payment scheme for interviewers, results of the quality control in both stages, and evaluations to the weighting.

Perspective-To investigate the role of different aspects of psychological strain in Chinese rural young suicides, so as to test the strain theory of suicide with the Chinese samples.Method-Psychological Autopsy (PA) was conducted on 105 suicides in rural China. The background and deep reasons for suicide were obtained from in-depth interviews with survivors and close friends. For each suicide, a story is composed out of the provided information, and the stories were content-analyzed with the SPSS Text Analysis for Surveys™.Results-Depression or other mental disorders were observed for less than half of the sampled suicides (42.9%). All suicides (100%) had experienced at least one type of the four strains: conflicting values, aspiration and reality, relative deprivation, and coping deficiency. While 24.9% of all suicides experienced only one type of strains, 36.2% for two strains, 32.4% for three, and only 6.7% of the suicides experienced all the four types of strains. Males are more likely than females to experience aspiration and deprivation strains, and the younger suicides (15-22 years of age) were more likely than the older suicides (23-29 years of age) to experience coping strain.