Gender differentiation in methods of suicide attempts

Abstract

SummaryBackgroundSuicide is an important public health problem worldwide, especially due to an increasing rate of suicides committed by violent methods. This study compared and assessed the methods used in suicide attempts (but no completed suicides) as undertaken by men and women and investigated the possible role of gender in the selection of suicide method.Material/MethodsThe study was conducted among persons who attempted suicide by various methods and were admitted to hospital. The study population comprised 147 participants (33 males and 114 females) aged between 14 and 33 years.ResultsThe most prevalent methods of suicide attempts were pharmacological drugs abuse (42.31%) and exsanguination (25.64%), and the least frequent were poisoning and throwing oneself under a moving car (1.28%). The findings revealed that the female subjects tended to choose pharmacological drugs overdose and exsanguination as the suicide method, while males more frequently used hanging and asphyxia. Females also used a greater number of different suicide methods.ConclusionsThe study results indicate that women as a group more frequently attempted suicide rather than actually committing it, whereas men were more likely to complete suicides and choose more violent suicide methods; thus, women are the “attempters” and “survivors” of suicide attempts. The study findings may have implications for therapy and prevention of suicide, and suggest that psychotherapeutic activities should be tailored to the psychological and personality traits associated with gender identity.

Gender differentiation of indirect self-destructiveness

“…Suchańska obtained similar results [3] too, although her study neither provided information on the significance of that difference nor raised the issue of sex (gender) differences. There are also interesting results of other research projects where it was revealed that females exhibit passive self-destructiveness [5] and are less prone to suicides, which is consistent with the results of another study of ours [17]. Furthermore, the majority of specific categories the indirectly self-destructive behaviors are more intense in males as well.…”

“…Females are more "accustomed" to using health care and are more "trained" due to their necessary regular gynecological examinations. Females more frequently and willingly seek help in case of health, life, and/or psychological problems than males who often consider such behavior to be "unmanly" and signifying weakness [17,23]; thus, those neglects by males have graver health consequences, which is reflected, among others, in the fact that after suicide attempts they require more intensive care than females and these attempts more frequently lead to death [17,24]. The Personal and Social Neglects scale (A3) assesses neglecting matters of various importance -from trivial ones to those posing an immediate threat to health or even life.…”

Gender Differences of Suicide Attempt Among Iranian Patients with Psychiatric Disorders

“…Because females employ less rough methods to attempt suicide, they are accounted as "suicide survivors" (21). In this study, males and females did not differ in methods of attempting suicide.…”

Análise dos Comportamentos Autolesivos na Unidade de Comportamentos Suicidários do Hospital de Braga

“…De facto, a associação obtida entre métodos violentos e género masculino também está de acordo com o que é descrito na literatura. 14,17,18 Tal como é descrito por Carlos Braz Saraiva, 19 foi possível constatar, através de investigações da Consulta de Prevenção do Suicídio dos Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra que, no caso específico do para-suicídio se está perante uma patologia de afetos, ajustamentos, personalidade, interação social e familiar. Nesses estudos, foi observada uma elevada frequência de distúrbios da personalidade entre os comportamentos suicidários múlti-plos e recorrentes, o que vai de encontro à associação obtida no nosso estudo entre comportamento de repetição e perturbação da personalidade.…”