When things fall apart: Gender and suicide across the life-course

Abstract

Young men are often considered to be at particular risk of suicide, but such claims are partial and potentially misleading. Drawing on official statistics and an innovative, qualitatively driven, mixed method sociological autopsy of individual suicides, the authors of this paper argue that the vulnerability of 'young' men to suicide is often exaggerated and that insufficient attention is paid to the diverse social circumstances of suicidal men and women across the life course. Detailed analysis of 100 case files selected from a single coroner's office in the UK reveals that patterns of suicide can be seen to map on to conventional features of a socially structured life course, with young people in crisis, mid-life gendered patterns of work and family and older people in decline. Particular attention is drawn to suicide among those in mid-life and to the role of the social bond, especially in the form of attachment. Relationship breakdown is considered in some detail because it is central to understanding the demography of suicide and the significance of social bonds.

Why Might Men Be More at Risk of Suicide After a Relationship Breakdown? Sociological Insights

“…Divorce can have a particular impact on men, as they are more often the partner to lose their home, children, and family (Payne et al, 2008). Shiner et al (2009) reported separation from children being cited as a factor in a number of coroners' suicide inquests, and men's separation from children seemed to be the primary causal factor in some cases. Moreover, disputes over the care of children postseparation can result in anger at court systems perceived to favor the interests of women (Kposowa, 2003).…”

Cosmopolitanism and the relevance of ‘zombie concepts’: the case of anomic suicide amongst Alevi Kurd youth

“…The breakdown of these intimate relationships appears to have played a vital role in their decision to commit suicide, largely because the breakdown was perceived as a loss of honour (see Macdonald 2007;Scourfield 2005;Connell 2002). As a number of studies show (Shiner et al 2009;Macdonald 2007;Scourfield 2005;Hassan 1996Hassan , 1995 suicides can be related to a 'crisis of masculinity' (Faludi 1999) or the erosion of the 'patriarchal dividend' resulting from changing gender relations (Connell 2002) and those especially who lack social and cultural capital are not able to adapt and cope with these new gender roles so suffer most from the crisis of masculinity (Whitehead 2008).…”

“…Rather for these young men, who were marginalized from both their ethnic community and mainstream society, with little integration into the labour market and now cut lose from the regulating effect gained from gang membership, the breakup of their relationship represented the loss of the last social bond with society, leaving the individual more prone to suicide (Durkheim 1996;Shiner et al 2009;Macdonald 2007;Scourfield 2005;Hassan 1995).…”

Total Institutions and Reinvented Identities

“…Coyle & MacWhannell 2002): was suicide being normalised, even glamorised, as an expression of authentic suffering? There was already concern about the disproportionately high rate of suicide in young men, which has endured (Platt 2009), even though recent sociological research suggests it is mid-life and older men who are most at risk (Fincham et al 2008;Shiner et al 2009).…”