Skip to main content

Factors in the Neighborhood as Risks of Suicide in Rural China: A Multilevel Analysis

Community Mental Health Journal volume 48, pages 627–633 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

To estimate the effect of social factors in the neighborhood environment on suicide risks, we studied 392 suicides and 416 controls, all aged 15–34 years, consecutively and randomly selected from 16 rural counties in three provinces of China. The social factors in the village neighborhood were measured by the WHO scale of Community Stress and Problems. The individual scores as well as the sum scores of the Community Stress Problems were compared between the suicides and the controls, and multilevel logit regressions were performed for the social structural stresses and community behavioral problems and other confounding variables to test the roles of community stress and problems in Chinese rural young suicide risks. It is found that neighborhood stresses and problems increase rural Chinese suicide risks, while certain problems, such as in health care, alcohol abuse, job security, family dispute, and transportation, play more important roles than others to increase rural Chinese suicide risks. Social risk factors such as the community stresses and problems can be another area to work on for the suicide prevention.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

43,34 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Beautrais, A. L. (2001). Effectiveness of barriers at suicide jumping sites: A case study. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 35, 557–562.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Beautrais, B. L., Fergusson, D. M., & Horwood, L. J. (2006). Firearms legislation and reductions in firearm-related suicide deaths in New Zealand. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 40, 253–259.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Breslow, N. E., & Clayton, D. G. (1993). Approximate inference in generalized linear mixed model. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 88, 9–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conner, K. R., & Zhong, Y. (2003). State firearm laws and rates of suicide in men and women. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 25, 320–324.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Moore, G. M., & Robertson, A. R. (1999). Suicide attempts by firearms and by leaping from heights: A comparative study of survivors. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 1425–1431.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Durkheim, E. (1951). Suicide: A study in sociology. New York: Free Press. (Original work published in 1897).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorsuch, R. L. (1983). Factor analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunnell, D., Middleton, N., & Fraenkel, S. (2000). Method availability and the prevention of suicide: A re-analysis of secular trends in England and Wales 1950–1975. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 35, 437–443.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hawton, K., Ratnayeke, L., Sue, S., Harriss, L., & Scott, V. (2009). Evaluation of acceptability and use of lockable storage devices for pesticides in Sri Lanka that might assist in prevention of self-poisoning. BMC Public Health, 9, 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horst, P. (1965). Factor analysis of data matrices. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanchan, T., Menon, A., & Menezes, R. G. (2009). Methods of choice in completed suicides: Gender differences and review of literature. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 54, 938–942.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klieve, H., Jerneja, S., & Diego, D. L. (2009). Who uses firearms as a means of suicide? A population study exploring firearm accessibility and method choice. BMC Medicine, 7, 52.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kong, Y., & Zhang, J. (2010). Access to farming pesticides and risk for suicide in Chinese rural young people. Psychiatry Research, 179, 217–221.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kraemer, H. C., Measelle, J. R., Ablow, J. C., Essex, M. J., Boyce, W. T., & Kupfer, D. J. (2003). A new approach to integrating data from multiple informants in psychiatric assessment and research: Mixing and matching contexts and perspectives. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 1566–1577.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lester, D. (2000). Why people kill themselves. Springfield, IL: Charles Thomas Publisher, Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, J. S., & Freese, J. (2005). Regression models for categorical outcomes using Stata (2nd ed.). College Station, TX: Stata Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malakouti, S. K., Nojomi, M., Bolhari, J., Hakimshooshtari, M., Poshtmashhadi, M., & De Leo, D. (2009). Prevalence of suicide thoughts, plans and attempts in a community sample from Karaj, Iran. Community Mental Health Journal, 45, 37–41.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, M., Azrael, D., Hepburn, L., Hemenway, D., & Lippmann, S. J. (2006). The association between changes in household firearm ownership and rates of suicide in the United States, 1981–2002. Injury Prevention, 12, 178–182.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, M. R., Xianyun, L., & Zhang, Y. (2002). Suicide rates in China, 1995–99. The Lancet, 359, 835–840.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). California: Sage Publication.

    Google Scholar 

  • StataCorp. (2009). Stata statistical software: Release 10.0. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, S., Li, Y., Chi, G., Shuiyuan Xiao, J., Ozanne-Smith, M., & Stevenson, M. P. (2008). Injury-related fatalities in China: An under-recognised public-health problem. The Lancet, 372, 1765–1773.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • WHO. (2002). Multisite intervention study on suicidal behaviours SUPRE-MISS: Protocol of SUPRE-MISS. Geneva: World Health Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO. (2005). The World health report. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, J., Jixiang, M., Jia, C., Sun, J., Xiaolei Guo, A., & Xu, W. L. (2010). Economic growth and suicide rate changes: A case in China from 1982 to 2005. European Psychiatry, 25, 159–163.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant of US NIMH: R01 MH068560. We thank our research collaborators in Liaoning, Hunan, and Shandong Provinces of China. We also thank all interviewees for their unique contribution to the study.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. School of Social Development, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China

    Jie Zhang & Cuntong Wang

  2. Department of Sociology, State University of New York College at Buffalo, 1300 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY, 14222, USA

    Jie Zhang

Authors
  1. Jie Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Cuntong Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jie Zhang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zhang, J., Wang, C. Factors in the Neighborhood as Risks of Suicide in Rural China: A Multilevel Analysis. Community Ment Health J 48, 627–633 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-011-9447-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-011-9447-0

Keywords

  • Suicide
  • Neighborhood environment
  • Rural China
  • Multilevel analysis