Suicide and Changing Values and Beliefs in Ireland
Abstract
Abstract. This paper addresses some of the generalized theories explaining rising suicide rates in Ireland. The conclusion here is that linking suicide patterns to changing beliefs and values is problematic. Church attendance as well as adherence to traditional values remain high in this country compared to European levels, and variations in beliefs and values, especially rural/urban differences, do not fit with general explanations. Moreover, attitudes to value areas fluctuate in that justification for suicide - which showed an upward trend in the 1980s - was reversed in the 1990s, and this may have resulted from increased public focus and debate. Generalized explanations are unlikely to decipher complex phenomena such as suicidal behavior. Religious belief, if protective in relation to suicide, is unlikely to act alone. Social transformations have a differential impact depending on one's socio-economic positioning, which translates ideas of a general male vulnerability to suicide into focused areas of male distress.
References
(2001). Relative misery and youth suicide. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 35, 49–57
(1997). Social and cultural patterns of suicide in young people in rural Australia. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 5, 115–120
(1986). Suicide in America: A test of Durkheim's theory of religious and family integration 1933-1980. American Journal of Sociology, 92, 628–656
(2002). Different from their elders and betters: Age cohort differences in the Irish data of the European Values Study (EVS). In E.G. Cassidy (Ed.), Measuring Ireland: Discerning values and beliefs (pp. 94-120). Dublin: Veritas
Ed. (2002). Measuring Ireland: Discerning values and beliefs. Dublin: Veritas
(2001). College entry in focus: A fourth national survey of access to higher education. Dublin: Higher Education Authority
(2005). Death rather than disclosure: Struggling to be a real man. Irish Journal Of Sociology, 14, 155–176
(2004). Young men on the margins. Dublin: Katherine Howard Foundation
(2004). From child to adult: A longitudinal study of children and their families. Dublin: UCD/Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs
(2002). Gender: Short introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press
(2002). Cultural correlates of youth suicide. Social Science and Medicine, 55, 891–1904
(1991). Religious involvement and subjective well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 32, 80–99
(2001). Religious involvement, stress, and mental health: Findings from the 1995 Detroit Area Study. Social Forces, 80(1), 215–249
(2001). Religious involvement, stress, and mental health: Findings from the 1995 Detroit Area Study. Social Forces, 80, 215–249
(1992). Catholicism and industrial society in Ireland. In J.H. Goldthorpe & C.T. Whelan (Eds.), The development of industrial society in Ireland (pp. 241-264). Oxford: Oxford University Press
(2002). Is atheism increasing? Ireland and Europe compared. In E.G. Cassidy (Ed.), Measuring Ireland: Discerning values and beliefs (pp. 46-66). Dublin: Veritas
(2005). Conflict and consensus. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration
(2004). Do subjective indicators measure welfare? Evidence from 33 countries. European Societies, 6(1), 5–27
(1999). The religions of Ireland. In A.F. Heath, R. Breen, & C.T. Whelan (Eds.), Ireland north and south. Perspectives from social science. Proceedings of the British Academy 1998 (pp. 141-160). Oxford: Oxford University Press
(2001). The European Values Study: A third wave. Sourcebook of the 1999/2000 European Values Survey. Tilburg: Tilburg University
(2001). Seven years old: School experience in Ireland. Dublin: Centre for Social and Educational Research
(1994). Religious and moral values. In C.T. Whelan (Ed.), Values and social change in Ireland (pp. 7-44). Dublin: Gill and Macmillan
(2000). Modernization, cultural change, and the persistence of traditional values. American Sociological Review, 65(1), 19–51
(1999). Suicide and religion in Ireland: An investigation of Thomas Masaryk's theory of suicide. Archives of Suicide Research, 5, 173–199
(2002). Understanding Irish suicides. In M. Corcoran & M. Peillon (Eds.), Ireland unbound: A turn of the century chronicle (pp. 36-50). Dublin: Institute of Public Administration
(2003). Collision culture: Road traffic accidents and the experience of accelerated modernisation in Ireland. Irish Journal of Sociology, 12(2), 45–66
(1999). Boys' underachievement: Social class and changing masculinities. In T. Cox (Ed.), Educational disadvantage. London: Falmer Press
(2001). A matter of life or death? Men, masculinities, and staying “behind” in rural Ireland. Sociologia Ruralis, 41, 220–236
(2001). Changed utterly: Ireland and the new Irish psyche. Dublin: Liffey Press
(1997). Labour market structures and women's employment. In A. Byrne & M. Leonard (Eds.), Women and Irish society (pp. 63-80). Belfast: Beyond the Pale Publications
(2003). Cultivating suicide? Destruction of self in a changing Ireland. Dublin: Liffey Press
(1998). The relationship of female labor force participation to suicide: A comparative analysis. Archives of Suicide Research, 4, 644–653
(2000a). Suicide: A 15-year review of the sociological literature. Part 1: Cultural and economic factors. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 30, 145–162
(2000b). Suicide: A 15-year review of the sociological literature. Part 11: Modernization and social integration perspectives. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 30, 163–176
(1994). Values and social change in Ireland. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan