Patterns of Suicide: Factors Affecting Age-Sex Distributions of Suicide in Western Samoa and Fiji Indians (Working Papers in Demography No. 77)

Excess female suicide over male is reported for very few populations. Two exceptions, as far as youth suicide is concerned, are Western Samoa & the Indian population of Fiji. This paper examines age-sex patterns of suicide in these two populations & seeks to explain why female youth suicide exceeds that of males. Female suicide is concentrated at young ages to a greater extent than males. It is argued this is due to differing causal factors. For females in both populations, these comprise sexuality, marriage & childbearing, while for males, economic & social status are important. An important factor in Western Samoa is method of suicide which leads to sex equality of fatality rates & thus contributes to excess female youth suicide. (70 refs.)