The Gender Inequality of Suicide [View all]

It's not rocket science. The often crushing burden of having to take care of others financially, to be the one who carries this weight singlehandedly or at least for out of proportion falls on mens' heads. Is it any wonder that they suffer from suicide far more than women DESPITE the fact that women are reported to have higher rates of depression (which I doubt, perhaps they just self-report more because men are too busy working?)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2012/09/24/the-gender-inequality-of-suicide-why-are-men-at-such-high-risk/

The World Health Organization estimates that about one million people take their own lives each year, and this is not counting those who attempt it but are not “successful.” In just about every country, men commit suicide more frequently than women, which is intriguing since women typically have higher (at least, reported) rates of mental health disorders like depression. A new study looked at the factors that might explain why certain groups of men are so much more likely than women to take their own lives.

The study found that the suicide rate was ten times higher in men of lower socioeconomic status than in affluent men. The link between suicide and unemployment has been known for some time, but the authors discuss the reasons why, beyond losing a job, socioeconomic class might affect suicide risk. One factor is the increasing “‘feminisation’ of employment (shift towards a more service-oriented economy),” which may cause men to feel like they have less room in the professional world. The authors write that “men in lower socioeconomic groups now have less access to jobs that allow for the expression of working-class masculinity, and have thus lost a source of masculine identity and ‘pride.’” Yet losing a job may still make men feel like a “double failure, since they are unable to meet two central demands of the masculine role: being employed; and ‘providing’ for the family.”

Part of it may be that men actually have a higher threshold for pain, which could, counterintuitively, lead to a greater risk for suicide, in volcano-like fashion. They may also may poorer decisions when under stress – and men who are unemployed may not come up with effective solutions to personal problems as well as their employed counterparts.

How to reduce the risk of suicides in middle-aged men (or any other demographic) is a question to which there aren’t many answers. The authors of the new study suggest one way may be to develop effective interventions for young men and boys at risk, since many of the patterns leading to suicide in middle age may begin during youth.