Suicide Problem May Not End Soon
2009-05-11 03:22 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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omonatheydidAs a general rule of thumb, economic distress causes higher suicide rates.
History bears this out. The Great Depression in the 1930s saw the U.S. suicide rate jump from 14 to 17 people per 100,000. World Health Organization's statistics show that Canada's suicide rate climbed from 11.3 to 12.4 in the mid-1970s when the oil crisis made its impact felt.
In New Zealand, sharply rising unemployment figures in the late 1980s and early 1990s coincided with an increase in the suicide rate from 10.3 to 15.3. Japan, Hong Kong and Korea all saw more suicides following the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98. And for what it's worth, in the 12 months after Hurricane Katrina left the area in and around New Orleans in shambles, the coroner's office reported that the suicide rate tripled.
It's little surprise then that Korea has seen a spate of suicides in recent months. One can easily point to the battered economy as the culprit. Or can we?
Actually, Korea's most recent prevalence for suicide hasn't needed much encouragement from global economic woes. Back in 2006, Korea led all OECD countries with 21.9 suicides per 100,000. By 2007, according to the National Statistics Office, the suicide rate was up to 24.8. This upsurge occurred at the same time as presidential hopeful Lee Myung-bak was wooing voters with promises of economic growth. Unemployment figures were still holding steady. It hasn't been until quite recently that unemployment reached a high of 4 percent.
Nor do unemployment and the threat of poverty seem to be the overriding factors in many of the suicide reports that have become somewhat commonplace in the daily newspapers. A somewhat shocking number of celebrities and a heart-breaking number of students have chosen to cut their lives short. Neither group would have been represented in the unemployment statistic.
None of this is to say that the economic downturn isn't causing more suicides. Quite probably, it is. However, it should be recognized that there are other conditions present in Korean society above and beyond economics that have been forcing alarming numbers of individuals to contemplate the notion that life is not worth living.
Looking at social pressures provides a good starting point. Korean high school students are put under immense strain to study hard and achieve good grades, often staying in classrooms until 10pm or later. University students stress over gaining enough qualifications to get short- listed at a major company. Korean employees on average put in the highest number of hours per week among all OECD countries ― yes, even higher than Japan. And after all of that, there is pressure to get married and have a healthy family life.
This intense pressure to achieve is interlinked with Korea's particular economic conditions, but there are clearly important socio-cultural factors at play, all of which lead one to second guess the belief that the global recession is the sole reason for increasing suicide rates.
It was the King of Bhutan, a country with its own economic difficulties, who first suggested that GDP per capita was perhaps not the best way to judge the welfare of a country's citizens, instead putting forward the concept of using a Gross National Happiness (GNH) per capita index. While this seemed quaint and amusing at the time, a number of social scientists have picked up on this idea and run with it.
In 2007, Adrian White from the University of Leicester used a ranking of each country's subjective well-being indicators to create a world map of happiness. Korea ranked 103rd on the list, sandwiched between Madagascar and Bangladesh. Incidentally, Bhutan ranked 8th.
And therein lies the problem. If sociocultural features present in modern day Korea are causing this abnormally high suicide rate, then it would be naive to think that as Korea gradually pulls out of its economic difficulties the suicide rate will significantly drop.
Likewise, providing more counseling services and making an effort to shut down internet suicide groups are worthwhile endeavors, but they don't strike at the heart of the problem. Campaigns to educate the public on how to recognize the warning signs amongst at-risk friends, family members and coworkers, again a positive step forward, are likely to fall on deaf ears as long as the pressure to succeed remains prominent.
It seems more likely that a meaningful reduction in the suicide rate will only be achieved with a large shift in societal values, and though Korea has often demonstrated a capacity for rapid change in recent decades, value systems have a funny way resisting change.
Andrew Calhoun is a doctoral student at the Graduate School for International Studies at Yonsei University. He can be reached at redliondrew@hanmail.net.
Source
History bears this out. The Great Depression in the 1930s saw the U.S. suicide rate jump from 14 to 17 people per 100,000. World Health Organization's statistics show that Canada's suicide rate climbed from 11.3 to 12.4 in the mid-1970s when the oil crisis made its impact felt.
In New Zealand, sharply rising unemployment figures in the late 1980s and early 1990s coincided with an increase in the suicide rate from 10.3 to 15.3. Japan, Hong Kong and Korea all saw more suicides following the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98. And for what it's worth, in the 12 months after Hurricane Katrina left the area in and around New Orleans in shambles, the coroner's office reported that the suicide rate tripled.
It's little surprise then that Korea has seen a spate of suicides in recent months. One can easily point to the battered economy as the culprit. Or can we?
Actually, Korea's most recent prevalence for suicide hasn't needed much encouragement from global economic woes. Back in 2006, Korea led all OECD countries with 21.9 suicides per 100,000. By 2007, according to the National Statistics Office, the suicide rate was up to 24.8. This upsurge occurred at the same time as presidential hopeful Lee Myung-bak was wooing voters with promises of economic growth. Unemployment figures were still holding steady. It hasn't been until quite recently that unemployment reached a high of 4 percent.
Nor do unemployment and the threat of poverty seem to be the overriding factors in many of the suicide reports that have become somewhat commonplace in the daily newspapers. A somewhat shocking number of celebrities and a heart-breaking number of students have chosen to cut their lives short. Neither group would have been represented in the unemployment statistic.
None of this is to say that the economic downturn isn't causing more suicides. Quite probably, it is. However, it should be recognized that there are other conditions present in Korean society above and beyond economics that have been forcing alarming numbers of individuals to contemplate the notion that life is not worth living.
Looking at social pressures provides a good starting point. Korean high school students are put under immense strain to study hard and achieve good grades, often staying in classrooms until 10pm or later. University students stress over gaining enough qualifications to get short- listed at a major company. Korean employees on average put in the highest number of hours per week among all OECD countries ― yes, even higher than Japan. And after all of that, there is pressure to get married and have a healthy family life.
This intense pressure to achieve is interlinked with Korea's particular economic conditions, but there are clearly important socio-cultural factors at play, all of which lead one to second guess the belief that the global recession is the sole reason for increasing suicide rates.
It was the King of Bhutan, a country with its own economic difficulties, who first suggested that GDP per capita was perhaps not the best way to judge the welfare of a country's citizens, instead putting forward the concept of using a Gross National Happiness (GNH) per capita index. While this seemed quaint and amusing at the time, a number of social scientists have picked up on this idea and run with it.
In 2007, Adrian White from the University of Leicester used a ranking of each country's subjective well-being indicators to create a world map of happiness. Korea ranked 103rd on the list, sandwiched between Madagascar and Bangladesh. Incidentally, Bhutan ranked 8th.
And therein lies the problem. If sociocultural features present in modern day Korea are causing this abnormally high suicide rate, then it would be naive to think that as Korea gradually pulls out of its economic difficulties the suicide rate will significantly drop.
Likewise, providing more counseling services and making an effort to shut down internet suicide groups are worthwhile endeavors, but they don't strike at the heart of the problem. Campaigns to educate the public on how to recognize the warning signs amongst at-risk friends, family members and coworkers, again a positive step forward, are likely to fall on deaf ears as long as the pressure to succeed remains prominent.
It seems more likely that a meaningful reduction in the suicide rate will only be achieved with a large shift in societal values, and though Korea has often demonstrated a capacity for rapid change in recent decades, value systems have a funny way resisting change.
Andrew Calhoun is a doctoral student at the Graduate School for International Studies at Yonsei University. He can be reached at redliondrew@hanmail.net.
Source
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Date: 2009-05-11 01:09 am (UTC)In 2007, Adrian White from the University of Leicester used a ranking of each country's subjective well-being indicators to create a world map of happiness. Korea ranked 103rd on the list
That list really surprised me at some points.
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Date: 2009-05-11 01:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 01:53 am (UTC)I agree.
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Date: 2009-05-11 04:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 04:50 am (UTC)