Citation

Cleary A, Griffith DM, Oliffe JL, Rice S. Front. Sociol. 2022; 7: e1123319.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Frontiers Media)

DOI

10.3389/fsoc.2022.1123319

PMID

36726599

PMCID

PMC9885186

Abstract

Suicide has been identified by the World Health Organisation (2014) as a global health problem disproportionately impacting males. Various psychosocial and neurobiological explanations have been advanced to account for the high rates of suicide in men including unwillingness to engage in mental health help-seeking, lack of gender-sensitive mental health services, impulsivity, alcohol and drug use, and access to and use of lethal means. A cultural/gender perspective has proved insightful in describing how gendered pressures and cultural beliefs about the idealized characteristics and practices of men can heighten the risks for suicide. Cultural/gender explanations are supported by the fact that rates of male suicide vary considerably across the world and fluctuate within societies between sub-groups of men based on socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, age, sexuality, urban/rural location and or the intersection of these factors. The focus of this Research Topic is on men's mental health, how men respond to mental health challenges and make decisions relating to suicidality. The collection of papers includes contributions from a variety of disciplines and are based on diverse research populations in Europe, the United States and Australia.

Streb et al. begin the discussion by addressing the male excess in suicide rates and the discrepancy between men's low rate of diagnosed depression and high rates of suicide. A possible explanation for this finding is that current depression inventories do not capture typical male symptoms of depression (Martin et al., 2013) and the authors examined gender-specific differences in depression symptoms between men and women in a forensic psychiatric sample. Although externalizing behaviors were similar in both groups, they found a significant relationship between external and internal depression symptoms only in men. This confirms previous research indicating unique symptomology in depressed men characterized by aggressiveness, alcohol use, and risky behavior (Möller-Leimkühler and Mühleck, 2020). These are significant risk factors for suicidal behavior (Rice et al., 2019; Armstrong et al., 2020) and the authors advocate the use of gender-sensitive screening instruments for the early detection of depression symptoms in men.

In terms of identifying suicidal features, practices of restrictive emotionality are identifiable in some, but not all, men...

Language: en

Keywords

mental health; suicide; suicide prevention; suicidal behavior; help-seeking behavior; masculinities; practices of restrictive emotionality