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Cited by 215Suicide and Self-Harm StudiesHomicide, Infanticide, and Child AbuseMental Health Treatment and Access

Suicide and Social Change in China

Phillips, Michael R., Liu, Huaqing, Zhang, Yanping·1999·Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry
DOI 10.1023/a:1005462530658
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Abstract

Using recently available data from China's Disease Surveillance Points system, we estimate that there are over 300,000 suicides in China per year; this makes suicide one of the most important causes of death in the country and makes the suicide rate in China one of the highest in the world. Moreover, the pattern of suicides in China is quite different than in other parts of the world--there are more completed suicides among females than males and rural rates are three-fold urban rates. The lack of reliable suicide data prior to 1987 makes it difficult to determine whether the rates are currently rising, falling, or staying constant. However, reports of suicides in the Chinese press and case studies conducted by the authors suggest (but do not prove) that the high rates of suicide currently experienced are related to the social changes that have occurred with the economic reforms (which started in 1978). Another possible explanation for the high rates of suicide is the large numbers of persons with depressive illness in China who remain untreated. Single-cause models of suicide (i.e., social factors or mental illness) do not do justice to the complexity of the processes involved and, therefore, do not provide useful information about the etiology and prevention of suicide in China or elsewhere. We describe our own dynamic model of suicide that includes five interacting factors which, we believe, collectively determine the suicide rates in a community.

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  • The iatrogenic effects of social and economic reforms in China include heightened work and domestic tensions, rising rates of gambling, substance use and abuse, weakening of communal support networks, and increasing competition in the workplace.

    “Despite the dramatic improvements in the quality of life, the iatrogenic effects of social and economic reforms include heightened work and domestic tensions, rising rates of gambling, substance use and abuse, weakening of communal support networks, and increasing competition in the workplace (Guo, 1987; Phillips, Liu, & Zhang, 1999).”

    From Letting a Hundred Flowers Bloom: Counseling and Psychotherapy in the People's Republic of China (2005) · cites this paper as Phillips, Liu, & Zhang, 1999

    In “Have Recent Changes in China Produced the High Rates of Suicide?” (page unavailable), the paper links economic reforms to increased gambling, alcohol and drug abuse, marital infidelity and divorce, and weakened family ties that reduce social support. Those passages support much of the paraphrase, but they do not establish increasing workplace competition or heightened work tensions; weakened family ties is also narrower than communal support networks generally. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. Desjarlais, R., L. Eisenberg, B. Good and A. Kleinman 1995 World Mental Health, 68-86. New York: Oxford University Press.
  2. Lin, Y.H. 1990 The Weight of Mount T'ai: Patterns of Suicide in Traditional Chinese History and Culture. Ph.D. Thesis, The University of Wisconsin, Madison.
  3. Mosher, S.W. 1983 Broken Earth. New York: The Free Press.
  4. Murray, C.J.L. and A.D. Lopez 1996a Global Health Statistics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1996b The Global Burden of Disease. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  5. Shen, Y.C., W. Zhang, Y. Wang et al. 1992 Epidemiological Survey of Alcohol Dependence in Populations of Four Occupa- tions in Nine Cities in China. Chinese Mental Health Journal 6(3): 112-115 (in Chinese).
  6. Tsoi, W.F. and L.P. Kok 1995 Mental Disorders in Singapore. In: Tsung-Yi Lin, Wen-Shing Tseng and En-Kung Yeh, eds., Chinese Societies and Mental Health. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 267-278.

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Authors
Phillips, M. R., Liu, H., & Zhang, Y.
Affiliations
Beijing HuiLongGuan Hospital (CN)
ORCID
Liu, Huaqing
Venue
Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
1999-03
Volume
23
Issue
1
Pages
25-50
ISSN
  • 0165-005X (ISSN-L)
  • 1573-076X
DOI
10.1023/a:1005462530658
OpenAlex
W1563422447
Cited by
211
References
26
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 10
FWCI
7.04
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
Locations
  • Culture Medicine and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Ford Foundation
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
Keywords
suicide, suicide rates, social change, economic reform, urban-rural differences, sex differences in suicide, untreated depression, causes of suicide, suicide prevention, China
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, China, Culture, Female, Humans, Life Change Events, Male, Middle Aged, Rural Population, Social Behavior, Suicide, Urban Population, Cost of Illness, Sex Distribution

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