A Mathematical Model of Evolutionary Pressures Regulating Self‐Preservation and Self‐Destruction

Catanzaro, Denys de

doi:10.1111/j.1943-278x.1986.tb00350.x

Cited by 34 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Placed in a broader context, our results are consistent with de Catanzaro's theory of self-destructive motivation (de Catanzaro, 1986(de Catanzaro, , 1991. One of the central components of de Catanzaro's theory is that individuals will engage in suicidal ideation and behavior if they become a burden to their families to prioritize the needs of the family.…”

Section: Limitations and Directions For Future Researchsupporting

confidence: 86%

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The Interplay Among Risk Factors for Suicidal Ideation and Suicide: The Role of Depression, Poor Health, and Loved Ones' Messages of Support and Criticism

Brown

Vinokur

2003

American J of Comm Psychol

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When individuals who receive social support are in poor physical or mental health and are criticized or made to feel unwanted, they may perceive themselves as a burden. Poor physical health and depression were hypothesized to exacerbate the harmful effects on suicidal ideation of receiving critical negative messages and of receiving social support. These hypotheses were tested using secondary analyses of data from a sample of 533 unemployed married individuals who were assessed shortly after job loss, and 6 months later. The results of our analyses supported the hypotheses and demonstrated that for participants with poor health or high level of depressive symptoms an increase in critical messages and social support (from Time 1 to Time 2) predicted increased suicidal ideation. This relationship was not observed for nondepressed participants in good health. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for suicide prevention.

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Section: Limitations and Directions For Future Researchsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…One promising target for suicide prevention programs may be the reduction in perceived burden, advanced by de Catanzaro (1986de Catanzaro ( , 1991. Whereas it may be difficult to help individuals recover from substantial loss or depression, the burden circumstance that accompanies loss may be more malleable.…”

Section: Implications For Suicide Preventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Interplay Among Risk Factors for Suicidal Ideation and Suicide: The Role of Depression, Poor Health, and Loved Ones' Messages of Support and Criticism

Brown

Vinokur

2003

American J of Comm Psychol

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“…Viewing suicide from an evolutionary perspective, deCatanzaro (1986) highlighted conditions favorable for the selection of self‐destructive motivation: (a) an individual's reproductive value is low (e.g., due to old age, poor health, or inadequate heterosexual relationships), and (b) the individual's continued existence burdens genetic relatives, in the sense that it disadvantaged their reproductive success. Under such conditions, staying alive interferes with the only means of genetic transmission available—kin reproduction.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Empirical Support for an Evolutionary Model of Self‐Destructive Motivation

Brown¹,

Brown²,

Johnson³

et al. 2009

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

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We tested predictions generated from an evolutionary account of self-destructive motivation in two survey studies of 18-24-year-old university students. As hypothesized, hierarchical regressions showed that the positive relationship between perceived burden to family and suicide ideation was amplified for participants with low measured health and romantic relationship satisfaction, and for participants with relatively young mothers. The moderating effect of maternal age was also observed in logistic regressions of suicide attempts. These effects occurred independently of depression, hopelessness, and other relevant extraneous variables. Results have implications for understanding self-destructive motivation, assessing suicide risk, and preventing suicidal thinking and behavior.

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“…For this reason, it is not easy to make sense of suicide or deliberate childlessness from an evolutionary perspective. As a solution, [1] proposes a model in which a preference for self-destruction, contingent on the individual's low reproductive potential compared with that of her kin, is hereditary. If a low fertility individual's survival decreases the ability of her high fertility genetic kin to pass on their genes, then self-destruction for a net genetic gain should be evolutionarily adaptive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Evolutionary Theory of Suicide

Szentes

Thomas

2013

Games

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We analyze a model in which individuals have hereditary reproductive types. The reproductive value of an individual is determined by her reproductive type and the amount of resources she can access. We introduce the possibility of suicide and assume it is also a genetic trait that interacts with the reproductive type of an individual. The main result of the paper is that populations where suicide is possible grow faster than other populations

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A Mathematical Model of Evolutionary Pressures Regulating Self‐Preservation and Self‐Destruction

Cited by 34 publications

References 13 publications

The Interplay Among Risk Factors for Suicidal Ideation and Suicide: The Role of Depression, Poor Health, and Loved Ones' Messages of Support and Criticism

The Interplay Among Risk Factors for Suicidal Ideation and Suicide: The Role of Depression, Poor Health, and Loved Ones' Messages of Support and Criticism

Empirical Support for an Evolutionary Model of Self‐Destructive Motivation

An Evolutionary Theory of Suicide

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