Year: 1992 Source: Annual Meeting of the American Association of Suicidology, (25th: 1992: Chicago), p.197-198 SIEC No: 19940436

Shulman reports on an exploratory study that tests the hypothesis that writers in the US, German-speaking countries, & Japan who commit suicide had experienced different types of childhood trauma, each type associated with a cultural stigma that varies by society. The hypothesis was tested by applying the sign test for matched pairs of writers. The hypothesis was clearly confirmed for American & German-language writers, but not for Japanese. Limitations of the study methodology are discussed.