Gender,Marriage, and Suicide Acceptability: A Comparative Analysis

The previous work on suicide acceptability hasneglected gender specific analysis of the marriagesuicide acceptability linkage as well as cross-nationalanalysis. The present study fills these gaps in the literature through an analysis of 15nations. Controlling for alternative predictors ofsuicide acceptability, marriage lowers suicideacceptability for both males and females. Further,marriage lowers suicide acceptability more for men than forwomen. This gendered relationship has the same strengthin nations both high and low in economic genderequality. The results provide the first comparativeevidence on the subject. The findings support the notionthat men derive relatively more benefits from marriagethan women. However, the strongest correlates of suicideacceptability (e.g., religiosity, liberalism, French residence) affect men and womenequally.