Citation

Velasco JC. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social and Community Studies 2022; 17(1): 113-125.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022)

DOI

10.18848/2324-7576/CGP/v17i01/113-125

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization, more than 700,000 individuals die globally due to suicide. For the most part, suicide has been understood as a medical or psychological phenomenon. Beyond these two disciplines, a social aspect of suicide was posited by Émile Durkheim. He theorized that there are four types of suicide: egoistic, altruistic, anomic, and fatalistic. Recent studies suggest that there are other potential causes of suicide beyond the medical or psychological domains. Some scholars have argued that socioeconomic factors are, to some extent, associated with the incidence of suicide. This article looked into the rates of suicide in different regions. The relationship between crude suicide rate vis-à-vis GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy at birth, positive affect, and negative affect were also examined. The results reveal that suicide rates significantly interact with GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy at birth, and negative affect on the global level. On the other hand, the results of regional analysis differ slightly from the global results. This article confirms that socioeconomic factors and life expectancy at birth do interact with suicide rates. Suicide is not exclusively a medical issue; rather, there is a constellation of social and economic components that interlace with suicidal behaviors. © Common Ground Research Networks, Joseph Ching Velasco, All Rights Reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Suicide; Affect; Happiness; Anomie; GDP; Émile Durkheim