Suicide research, claims White, may produce insights useful in understanding other social problems like alcohol abuse, violence, & mental disorders. He views suicide as a social event shaped in complex ways by culture–by shared beliefs & practices which give meaning to social life. In this chapter the author examines the effect of social change on rates of suicide in the Pacific Islands, & in particular the differences between Melanesian suicides & suicide in Western Samoa & Truk. (NBB)