Citation

Stephens BJ. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 1984; 14(4): 243-253.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1984, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

6528344

Abstract

This paper presents a brief review of the vocabulary of motives tradition in sociology and argues for its applicability to the study of suicidal motivation. A comparison of motive statements in the notes of suicides and motive statements elicited from a nonsuicidal group reveals a measure of motive standardization. The findings promote viewing suicide motives as social constructions learned in interaction which permit the individual and others to assign meaning and acceptability to the suicidal act.