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The standards sociological finding is that suicide is more likely to decline than rise during a war: "Suicide rates are thought to fall during wartime. Durkhei
by robertwiblin 9y ago
The standards sociological finding is that suicide is more likely to decline than rise during a war:
"Suicide rates are thought to fall during wartime. Durkheim [1] suggested this was due to increased social cohesion, while others have suggested that competing outcomes may be important, with individuals who might otherwise have died by suicide being more likely to die of other causes [2]. Neeleman [3] cites this as an example of contextual effect modification, with suicide risk modified by the likelihood of dying of other causes.
Examples of reductions in suicide rates in times of war have been described for several time periods and cultures [4-9]. Marshall [10] argued that the reduction in suicide rates reflected a reduction in unemployment, a recognised risk factor for suicide [11], rather than a direct effect of war, an argument offered some support by Lester and Yang [12]. Stack [13] suggested that the suicide rate decreased as the proportion of the population employed in military roles increased."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1526726/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1526726/
- manjushri 9y agoDid you read the final conclusion of your study? >Conclusion: In contrast to the established view, our findings suggest that compared to both the pre-War and post-War periods there was an increased likelihood of suicide during the Second World War if the overall declining trend is taken into account. Moreover, the argument of "increased social cohesion" against a foreign enemy is not applicable to a civil war, where social cohesion has completely broken down.
- robertwiblin 9y agoThat paper disagrees with the established view, but helpfully lays out what the established view is. Scanning papers on the topic it seems like there's mixed results war to war, and it depends what other things you try to control for - I think you could get to saying it's neutral but not that there should be a strong presumption that a war will suicide. "the argument of "increased social cohesion" against a foreign enemy is not applicable to a civil war" You'd get increased social cohesion among each of the ethnic groups which is in conflict with the other. In any case this focus on the Sri Lankan civil war specifically isn't that interesting - I posted a review article above which includes controls and studies a wide range of cases across different countries, and concludes pesticide control has large effects.