The social environment, even at the community level, increases the risk of suicide… A universal approach is needed
Posted 2024.02.11 21:05 Posted 2024.02.11 21:05 Modified 2024.02.11 08:44 Views 2
In addition to the individual level, social factors such as community atmosphere and policies have been found to significantly increase the risk of suicide. [사진=게티이미지뱅크]Suicide, which has emerged as a social problem, is the leading cause of death among young people: it is easy to think of it as a personal tragedy, but it is established that the surrounding environment, such as the neighborhood, also has a significant impact. influence.
There are many reasons for attempting suicide, but it’s usually easy to think that it’s due to personal problems or living in poverty. However, according to a recent study published in the academic journal “Frontiers in Public Health”, it was found that the higher the socioeconomic status of the surrounding neighbors, i.e. in areas with wealthier people, the more people attempt suicide.
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and Howard University School of Medicine examined a database of emergency rooms in Maryland from January 2018 to December 2020 to identify people diagnosed with suicide attempts and collect their demographic and other clinical information . Subsequently, using indicators capable of quantifying social and economic risks, we compared the residential areas of people who attempted suicide, classifying them into five levels from poor to rich. As a result, it was confirmed that the risk of suicide was higher in more prosperous areas and increased as one advanced.
This study is considered significant as it confirms that the causes of suicide attempts are not simply individual, but are strongly influenced by community situations and policies. Most previous studies have focused on the causes of suicide such as mental problems, impulsivity, drug use and suicide attempts, but not many studies have confirmed that the community level itself can increase the risk of suicide.
Temitope Ogundare, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine who participated in this study, said in an interview with Medical “According to this, this may not be true,” he said, noting that “the factors that cause the suicide could be community or even broader social and political factors rather than at the individual level.”
Based on the findings of this study, the researchers also emphasized that more universal suicide screening and prevention strategies are needed at the societal level rather than at the individual level, and that further research is needed on factors that increase suicide risk and on ways to prevent them.
There are also research findings that demonstrate that happiness is not simply determined by economic factors. A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) found that people in low-income countries tend to be more satisfied with their current lives than people in wealthy countries. Although this is a small-scale study of 2,966 indigenous and community residents in 19 regions of the world, the findings show that the relationship between income and life satisfaction is not universal and that members can live happily even if they lack material wealth.
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