Gender, Power, and Social Change: Youth Suicide Among Fiji Indians and Western Samoans

Among the Indian populations of Fiji & Western Samoa, female youth suicide, ages 15-24, exceeds that of male youth. This analysis of the factors contributing to the gender balance in youth suicide in these 2 high suicide populations identified gender & power as underlying causes oeprating in the context of social change. These factors operate through different mechanisms for females & males, but they are similar in the two populations. For females, the mechanisms are sexuality, marriage, & childbearing, while for males it is socioeconomic status. Among Western Samoans, gender & power also operate through method of suicide to contribute to the high female suicide. (72 refs.)