Suicide Rates in the World: 1950–2004

The cross‐country differences and the trends of suicide rates in 71 countries from 1950 to 2004 are described. The data are from the World Health Organization's Mortality Database. It shows that suicide rates vary greatly across countries, even within the same region or at similar levels of development. Random‐effect models were used to examine the between‐country and within‐country stabilities in suicide rates. The results show that more than 90% of the variance in suicide rates is due to between‐country differences, suggesting suicide rates display a strong temporal stability.     

PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN INDIA: 1920–19671

The reader may find a brief account of the psychology programme in Indian universities useful for a proper appreciation of the nature and direction of research in the subject. Therefore the paper begins with this item.     

Suicide: Media Impacts in War and Peace, 1910–1920

The literature of the impact of publicized suicide stories on suicide has neglected the influence of social contexts. In the present study, the context of a popular war was inspected. A Durkheimian perspective was tested, wherein the context of war would lower suicide through promoting social integration. Suicide stories in such times should have less of an impact than in times of peace. Data were collected on widely publicized suicide stories during the World War I decade. A Cochrane—Orcutt iterative time series analysis found that publicized suicide stories during war had no impact on suicide. In contrast, peacetime suicide stories were associated with an increase of 48 suicides. This is significant, since the electronic media were nonexistent and hence could not reinforce the publicity in the printed media, as they do today. Further analysis of the relationship found similar results for New York City.     

Per Capita Alcohol Consumption and Suicide Rates in the U.S., 1950–2002

The aim of this paper was to estimate how suicide rates in the United States are affected by changes in per capita consumption during the postwar period. The analysis included Annual suicide rates and per capita alcohol consumption data (total and beverage specific) for the period 1950–2002. Gender‐ and age‐specific models were estimated using the Box‐Jenkins technique for time series analysis. No significant estimate was found for males. For females the total alcohol estimate (0.059) was significant at the 10% level whereas the spirits estimate was significant with an effect of 0.152. The results imply that a change in U.S. per capita consumption would result in a change in female suicide rates, whereas the male rates would not be affected.     

Struggle for scientific authority: The reception of Watson's Behaviorism, 1913–1920

Supported by the Zeitgeist, Behaviorism supposedly spread quickly through American psychology after the publication of Watson's manifesto in 1913. But an extensive search of published and unpublished source material from 1913 to 1920 shows only limited support and a good deal of resistance; documentary evidence for the conversion of psychologists to radical behaviorism during these years is hard to find. Though faced with some troubling problems, the discipline was not eager to renounce its established scientific authority and expertise on the mind. Acceptance of Watson's claims for a new authority required drastic shifts in psychologists' perception of reality, and in their interests to problems of social control.     

Female Labor Force Participation,Status Integration and Suicide, 1950–1969

ABSTRACT: Using Census data covering the 29 year period starting in 1950 this, study tests the hypothesis that (1) female labor force participation may result in more married women committing suicide due to the strain of household and outside working responsibilities and that (2) female labor force participation may also be associated with higher rates of male suicide due to the fact that it represents apparent failure of the husband as sole breadwinner ( Stack, 1978 ). Results show that during the 1950's male suicide was not associated with growth in the female labor force, but female suicide was. During the 1960s male suicide was negatively associated with female labor force participation, but the opposite was true for females. It is argued that working women represented a weakening of norms concerning sex roles. Apparently as more and more women entered the labor force, role conflict did ensue, but contrary to the above hypothesis it only increased female suicide potential. These results are discussed in terms of different normative sex role contexts of the 1950s and the 1960s.     

Experimenting with Family Treatment Approaches to Alcoholism, 1950–1975: A Review

The attention given family therapy approaches to alcoholism has been disproportionately low in relation to the magnitude of alcohol abuse as a clinical problem and its acknowledged impact on family life. Although the literature to date is limited and most studies should be characterized as pilot in nature, preliminary results have enthusiastically endorsed family therapy approaches to alcoholism. This critical review assesses the existing experimental and clinical literature of the past 25 years. It also offers potential explanations for the reluctance of family therapists to engage this problem more actively.