Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 8/2006

01-08-2006 | ORIGINAL PAPER

Sex, gender role orientation, gender role attitudes and suicidal thoughts in three generations

A general population study

Authors: Kate Hunt, Helen Sweeting, Margaret Keoghan, Stephen Platt

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 8/2006

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Suicide and other suicidal behaviours are markedly (though differently) patterned by gender. The increase in young male suicide rates in many countries has heightened interest in whether suicidal behaviours and ideation (thoughts) are related to masculinity. Relatively little research has explored the relationship between gender role attitudes and orientation and suicidal behaviours and ideation. Most research in this area has been conducted with young people.

Objective

We investigated whether gender role orientation (masculinity and femininity scores) and gender role attitudes were related to the reporting of serious suicidal thoughts in three generations (early adulthood, and early and late middle age) in a community sample.

Methods

Subjects (653 men and women aged around 23 years, 754 aged around 43 years, 722 aged around 63 years) completed home interviews with nurses as part of an ongoing longitudinal community-based study of social factors and health. These included measures of suicidal ideation (thoughts), attitudes to traditional gender roles, and a validated measure of gender role orientation (masculinity and femininity scores).

Results

The prevalence of serious suicidal thoughts was higher in early adulthood (10% men, 15% women) than in early (4% men, 8% women) and late (6% men, 5% women) middle age. In early adulthood only sex was significantly related to suicidal thoughts, with women at higher risk (adjusted OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.01–3.00). In early middle age masculinity scores were negatively related to suicidal thoughts (adjusted OR for each unit increase in score 0.65: 95% CI 0.46–0.93), and more traditional views on gender roles were positively associated with suicidal thoughts (adjusted OR 1.48: 95% CI 1.07–2.04). In late middle age trends were in the same direction as in early middle age, but were not statistically significant. Femininity scores were unrelated to serious suicidal thoughts at any age.

Conclusion

The high rates of suicidal thoughts amongst men and women in early adulthood point to the importance of understanding mental health problems at this age. The results raise a number of questions and suggest that suicide researchers should pay more attention to gender roles and attitudes in older adults.
Literature
1.
Hawton K (2000) Sex and suicide. Gender differences in suicidal behaviour. British Journal of Psychiatry 177:484–485PubMedCrossRef
2.
Rudmin FW, Ferrada-Noli M, Skolbekken J-A (2003) Questions of culture, age and gender in the epidemiology of suicide. Scand J Psychology 44:373–381CrossRef
3.
Brock A, Griffiths C (2003) Trends in suicide by method in England and Wales, 1979 to 2001. Health Statist Q 20(Winter):7–18
4.
Plutchik R (2000) Agression, violence and suicide. In: Maris R, Berman A, Silverman M (eds) Comprehensive textbook of suicidality. Guildford Press, New York 407–423
5.
Maris R, Berman A, Silverman M (2000) Suicide, gender, sexuality. In: Maris R, Berman A, Silverman M (eds) Comprehensive textbook of suicidality Guildford Press, New York, pp 145–169
6.
Brent D, Moritz G (1996) Developmental pathways to adolescent suicide. In: Cichetti D, Toth S (eds) Adolescents: opportunities and challenges. University of Rochester Press Rochester, NY
7.
Canetto SS, Sakinofsky I (1998) The gender paradox in suicide. Suicide life-threat behav 28(1):1–23PubMed
8.
Beautrais AL (2002) Gender issues in youth suicidal behaviour. Emerg Medi 14:35–42CrossRef
9.
Wadsworth MEJ (1997) Health inequalities in the life course perspective. Social Sci Med 44:859–870CrossRef
10.
Uhlenberg P, Cooney TM (1990) Male and female physicians: family and career comparisons. Social Sci Med 30(3):373–378CrossRef
11.
Wunderlich U, Bronisch T, Wittchen H-U, Carter R (2001) Gender differences in adolescents and young adults with suicidal behaviour. Acta Psychiatr Scand 104:332–339PubMedCrossRef
12.
McQueen C, Henwood K (2002) Young men in ‘crisis’: attending to the language of teenage boys’ distress. Social Sci Med 55:1493–1509CrossRef
13.
Connell R (1995) Masculinities. Polity Press, Cambridge
14.
Hawton K (1998) Why has suicide increased in young males? Crisis 19(3):119–124PubMed
15.
Canetto SS (1997) Meanings of gender and suicidal behavior during adolescence. Suicide life-threat behav 27(4):339–351PubMed
16.
Gasquet I, Choquet M (1993) Gender role in adolescent suicidal behaviour: observations and therapeutic implications. Acta Psychiatr Scand 87:59–65PubMed
17.
Ferguson S, Blakely T, Allan B, Collings S (2003) Suicide rates in New Zealand. Exploring associations with social and economic factors. Public Health Consultancy, Department of Public Health Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences. University of Otago Wellington
18.
Rutter M, Smith D (eds) (1995) Psychosocial disorder in young people: time trends and their causes. Wiley Chichester
19.
Moller-Leimkuhler AM (2003) The gender gap in suicide and premature death or: why are men so vulnerable? Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 253:1–8PubMedCrossRef
20.
Hawton K (2000) General hospital management of suicide attempters. In: Hawton K, van Heeringen K (eds) The international handbook of suicide and attempted suicide. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester 519–537
21.
Gunnell D, Harbord R, Singleton N, Jenkins R, Lewis G (2004) Factors influencing the development and amelioration of suicidal thoughts in the general population. Br J Psychiatry 185:385–393PubMedCrossRef
22.
Linehan M, Laffaw J (1982) Suicidal behaviours among clients of an outpatient clinic versus the general population. Suicide life-threat behav 12:234–239PubMed
23.
Pinhas L, Weaver H, Bryden P, Ghabbour N, Toner B (2002) Gender-role conflict and suicidal behaviour in adolescent girls. Can J Psychiatry 47(5):473–475PubMed
24.
Angst J, Degonda M, Ernst C (1992) The Zurich study: XV Suicide attempts in a cohort from age 20 to 30. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 242:135–141PubMedCrossRef
25.
Waelde LC, Silvern L, Hodges WF (1994) Stressful life events: moderators of the relationships of gender and gender roles to self-reported depression and suicidality among college students. Sex Roles 30:1–13CrossRef
26.
Cato JE, Canetto SS (2003) Young adults’ reactions to gay and lesbian peers who became suicidal following “coming out” to their parents. Suicide life-threat behav 33(2):201–209PubMedCrossRef
27.
Spence JT, Helmreich RL (1978) Masculinity and femininity: their psychological dimensions, correlates, and antecedents. University of Texas Austin
28.
Langhinrichsen-Rohling J, Lewinsohn P, Rohde P, Seeley J, Monson CM, Meyer KA, et al. (1998) Gender differences in the suicide-related behaviours of adolescents and young adults. Sex Roles 39:839–854CrossRef
29.
Walby S (1997) Gender transformations. Routledge, London
30.
Annandale E, Hunt K (2000) Gender inequalities in health: research at the crossroads. In: Annandale E, Hunt K (eds). Gender Inequalities in Health. Open University Press, Buckingham, pp 1–33
31.
Hunt K (2002) A generation apart? An examination of changes in gender-related experiences and health in women in early and late mid-life. Social Sci Medi 54:663–676CrossRef
32.
West P, Sweeting H (1996) Nae job, nae future: young people and health in the context of unemployment. Health Social Care Community 4(1):50–62CrossRef
33.
Hunt K, Hannah MK, West P (2004) Contextualising smoking: masculinity, femininity and class differences in smoking in men and women from three generation in the west of Scotland. Health Educ Res Theory Pract 19:239–249
34.
Bem SL (1981) Bem Sex-Role Inventory. Professional Manual. Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc., Palo Alto, CA
35.
Stroebele SA (1992) A validation of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) in the West of Scotland. Perception of sex stereotypes. MPH Thesis, University of Glasgow
36.
Annandale E, Hunt K (1990) Masculinity, femininity and sex: an exploration of their relative contribution to explaining gender differences in health. Sociol Health Illness 12(1):24–46CrossRef
37.
Kung H-C, Pearson J, Liu X (2003) Risk factors for male and female suicide decedents ages 15–64 in the United States. Social Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 38:419–426CrossRef
38.
Goldney RD, Wilson D, Dal Grande E, Fisher LJ, McFarlane AC (2000) Suicidal ideation in a random community sample: attributable risk due to depression and psychosocial and traumatic events. Austr N Zeal J Psychiatry 34:98–106CrossRef
39.
40.
Biddle L, Gunnell D, Sharp D, Donovan J (2004) Factors influencing help-seeking in mentally distressed young adults: a cross-sectional survey. Br J General Prac 54:248–253
41.
O’Brien R, Hunt K, Hart G (2005) Men’s accounts of masculinity and help-seeking: ‘It’s caveman stuff, but that is to a certain extent how guys still operate’. Social Sci Med 61:503–516CrossRef
42.
Emslie C, Ridge D, Ziebland S, Hunt K (2006) Men’s accounts of depression: reconstructing or resisting hegemonic masculinity. Social Sci Med 62:2246–2257CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Sex, gender role orientation, gender role attitudes and suicidal thoughts in three generations
A general population study
Authors
Kate Hunt
Helen Sweeting
Margaret Keoghan
Stephen Platt
Publication date
01-08-2006
Publisher
Steinkopff-Verlag
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 8/2006
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-006-0074-y

Other articles of this Issue 8/2006

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 8/2006 Go to the issue

ORIGINAL PAPER

Depression and activity limitations: examining gender differences in the general population

ORIGINAL PAPER

Perceptions of a South African schizophrenia population with regards to community attitudes towards their illness

ORIGINAL PAPER

Depression amongst Nigerian university students

ORIGINAL PAPER

Service use and costs of supporting the most socially disabled patients in a hospital reprovision programme

ORIGINAL PAPER

Survey of sleep problems amongst Singapore children in a psychiatric setting

ORIGINAL PAPER

Social disadvantage and schizophrenia