IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v75y2012i11p2037-2046.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Explaining suicide: Identifying common themes and diverse perspectives in an urban Mumbai slum

Author

Listed:
  • Parkar, Shubhangi R.
  • Nagarsekar, Balkrishna B.
  • Weiss, Mitchell G.

Abstract

Rates, demographics and diagnostics, which are the focus of many studies of suicide, may provide an insufficient account without adequate consideration of psychological, social and cultural contexts and motives. Furthermore, reported explanations of suicide are shaped not only by events but also the relationship of survivor respondents explaining the suicide. An explanatory model interview for sociocultural autopsy has been used to assess underlying problems and perceived causes. This study in a low-income community of Mumbai in 2003–2004 compared accounts of the closest family survivors and more distant relationships. Our study design distinguished series-level agreement (i.e., consistency of accounts within a group) and case-level agreement for particular cases. Serious mental illness was the perceived cause reported by a respondent in either group for 22.0% of index suicides, but case-level agreement was only 6.0%. Regarding financial stressors, more closely related family respondents focused on acute stressors instead of enduring effects of poverty. Case-level agreement was high for marital problems, but low for other sources of family conflict. Tension was a feature of suicide reported in both groups, but case-level agreement on tension as a perceived cause was low (kappa = 0.14). The role of alcohol as a perceived cause of suicide had high series level agreement (46.0% in both groups) and case-level agreement (kappa = 0.60), suggesting comparable community and professional views of its significance. The study shows that it is relevant and feasible to consider general community patterns and particular survivor interests. Findings from this study recommend an approach to sociocultural autopsy to assess reasons for suicide in community studies. Findings clarify diverse views of underlying problems motivating suicide that should be considered to make mental health care more effective in assessing risk and preventing suicide.

Suggested Citation

  • Parkar, Shubhangi R. & Nagarsekar, Balkrishna B. & Weiss, Mitchell G., 2012. "Explaining suicide: Identifying common themes and diverse perspectives in an urban Mumbai slum," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(11), pages 2037-2046.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:75:y:2012:i:11:p:2037-2046
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.07.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612005345
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.07.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Knox, K.L. & Conwell, Y. & Caine, E.D., 2004. "If Suicide Is a Public Health Problem, What Are We Doing to Prevent It?," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(1), pages 37-45.
    2. Shahmanesh, M. & Wayal, S. & Cowan, F. & Mabey, D. & Copas, A. & Patel, V., 2009. "Suicidal behavior among female sex workers in Goa, India: The silent epidemic," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(7), pages 1239-1246.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hagaman, Ashley K. & Wagenaar, Bradley H. & McLean, Kristen E. & Kaiser, Bonnie N. & Winskell, Kate & Kohrt, Brandon A., 2013. "Suicide in rural Haiti: Clinical and community perceptions of prevalence, etiology, and prevention," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 61-69.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kai Chen & Xiaoping Lin & Han Wang & Yujie Qiang & Jie Kong & Rui Huang & Haining Wang & Hui Liu, 2022. "Visualizing the Knowledge Base and Research Hotspot of Public Health Emergency Management: A Science Mapping Analysis-Based Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-23, June.
    2. Scott J. Fitzpatrick & Bronwyn K. Brew & Donna M. Y. Read & Kerry J. Inder & Alan Hayes & David Perkins, 2019. "Rethinking Suicide in Rural Australia: A study Protocol for Examining and Applying Knowledge of the Social Determinants to Improve Prevention in Non-Indigenous Populations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-13, August.
    3. Justin T. Denney & Tim Wadsworth & Richard G. Rogers & Fred C. Pampel, 2015. "Suicide in the City: Do Characteristics of Place Really Influence Risk?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(2), pages 313-329, June.
    4. Madhu Sudhan Atteraya & Nasser B. Ebrahim & Shreejana Gnawali, 2021. "Perceived Risk Factors for Suicide among Nepalese Migrant Workers in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-11, June.
    5. Hempstead, Katherine, 2006. "The geography of self-injury: Spatial patterns in attempted and completed suicide," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(12), pages 3186-3196, June.
    6. Madeleine Mellqvist Fässberg & Kimberly A. van Orden & Paul Duberstein & Annette Erlangsen & Sylvie Lapierre & Ehud Bodner & Silvia Sara Canetto & Diego De Leo & Katalin Szanto & Margda Waern, 2012. "A Systematic Review of Social Factors and Suicidal Behavior in Older Adulthood," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-24, March.
    7. Jeong, Tay, 2022. "Contextual fallacy in MLMs with cross-level interaction: A critical review of neighborhood effects on psychiatric resilience," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    8. Bellanger, Martine Marie & Jourdain, Alain & Batt-Moillo, Agnes, 2007. "Might the decrease in the suicide rates in France be due to regional prevention programmes?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 431-441, August.
    9. Ruwan Ratnayake & Paul Links, 2009. "Examining Student Perspectives On Suicidal Behaviour and Its Prevention in Sri Lanka," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 55(5), pages 387-400, September.
    10. Rockett, Ian R.H. & Samora, Julie B. & Coben, Jeffrey H., 2006. "The black-white suicide paradox: Possible effects of misclassification," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(8), pages 2165-2175, October.
    11. Ajit Shah, 2010. "The Relationship Between Elderly Suicide Rates and the Internet: a Cross-National Study," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 56(3), pages 214-219, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:75:y:2012:i:11:p:2037-2046. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.