Samoans state that suicide has always been known in Samoa but it has become more frequent in recent times. The authors investigate the hypotheses that in a country as rigidly structured & as authoritarian as Samoa, some altruistic suicides are to be expected, & secondly, that changes in the democratic, social & economic structures in contemporary society have limited opportunities for upward mobility in Western Samoa which has generated frustration & hopelessness among youth. 28 Ref. 8 Tables.