Suicide Influences and Factors: Culture (IN: Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, vol.2: L-Z, ed. by R Kastenbaum)

The author explores the relationship between suicide & culture. Twentieth-century advances in cultural studies that have contributed to new ways of understanding the causes & influences of suicide are reviewed. A cross-cultural picture of suicide is presented, & suicide is discussed as an indicator of the ‘mental health of society.’ Cultural theories of suicide are also presented. (9 refs)