| Abstract: | Cases from the past 25 years of 143 students who committed suicide at Kyoto University, a "name university" in Japan since 1956, were investigated retrospectively. Then the total trends of the suicide rate were reexamined in comparison with a control group, and the recent trends after the student strife (1970) were confirmed in comparison with the 15-year period before the strife. Thus, using a longer time span, the total pattern of suicide could be reidentified as the "performance type" within an "achievement-oriented culture." Seemingly healthy students from normal homes have suddenly committed suicide in this recent "pupa within a cocoon" syndrome, resulting from "unbalanced personality development" in the context of modern mass higher education. |
