A Comparative Study of Suicide.

The article focuses on a comparative study of suicide. The objective of this article is to test cross-culturally a number of inter-related variables, in order to account for differences in suicide rates both within and between different societies. Perhaps the most firmly established generalization in the sociological study of suicide concerns its relation with the business cycle. Among many theorists Emile Durkheim was one of the first to propose an explanation of such a relation. With the causal relation between business trends and suicide that Durkheim and many others hypothesized, there should be not only this current-year correlation but also a lag correlation between the two time series. Although suicide is not limited to any particular age, studies have shown that the rate generally rises with advancing age, so that suicide achieves its culminating point only at the final limits of human existence. It seems to be well accepted that the traditional Taiwanese culture has placed great emphasis on stability of the social structure, in which seniority rather then ability is a primary guide to social values.