Why are suicide rates so much higher in men than woman?

[zlygork]

I think it has more to do with the fact that girls often, not willing to generalize, but oh well... tend to be more open than men, like they have a problem and always talk about it with trusted friends or family, while most men, me included, tend to keep all the feeling deep inside to ourselves and no one ever knows what kind of hell we are passin through and how sad/angry/lonely/whatever we feel.
Keeping it to ourselves is really hard and it ends up in a big deppression, wich again we keep to ourselves and we end up going nuts and jumping off a window crying 'LEEEEEEEROOOOY JEEEEEEEEEEENKIIIIIIIIIINGS!'

[BatteredRose]

Like many others already said, society pressures men much more than women.
Man = working machine, no emotions
Woman = sweet honey who can cry at any mans shoulder

Especially in this day and age, you couldn't be more wrong.

[Providence]

Especially in this day and age, you couldn't be more wrong.

Nah he's pretty right.

[artemishunter1]

Especially in this day and age, you couldn't be more wrong.

Women are accountable only to themselves. while men is accountable to himself and the rest of the society which includes the women. if a woman does not work, she might feel bad but no one is going to call her dead beat. if a man does not work guess what society is going to call him, a deadbeat even sometimes by the women he is married to if she is working.

[Lawlocoptor]

Simple answer is that men will actually commit to suicide more often and either A. Go through with it or B. Use a more brutal method that is more likely to actually succeed, or a combination of the two. Women actually attempt suicide more often, but their success rate is lower than men's by enough so that men die more often from suicide statistically.

[patrixlul]

You know I was going to say it's due to men being raised with the ideology that the burden of responsibility falls on them. Which is true in a regard, especially in relationships, politics, and work. Men are expected to take the lead in many situations, but that's been the case throughout history so you can't really use that as a reason for higher suicide rates.

After giving it a little thought I think it might be due to the rise in equality between sexes. Historically men have been relied upon for so much. Wars, food, safety, security, protection. It's always been the mans role to take charge and get it done.

That's not how the modern world works though. Women are far more independent and equal now than they've ever been in history. Hell the last two presidential elections women have been in the running for their parties representative. The wage earning gap between men and women, while still existing, is narrowing. In a world where 60% of marriages fail, single parents are far more common than they've ever been in history. The responsibility is spread more evenly and equally than it's ever been.

Which means there is a sense of a general lack of purpose creeping in to society for men. Traditionally many still hear how we have to be the bread winners and the responsible family head, but the reality of it is...women can do most of it without us these days. I mean just turn on your TV and look at how men are commonly portrayed these days. Childish, irresponsible, idiotic, petty, chauvinistic, incapable of handling any responsibility. Of course this is for comedy sake, but look back through past TV shows and movies, mans stereotypical role in the world is being systematically broken down and ridiculed. Don't get me wrong, I realize there's still an equality gap and that men aren't falling in to some great domineering shadow of women.

I'm not actually saying this is a bad thing for society, just something that came to mind. Lack of purpose and place in society, while still being social evolution, can cause an increase in suicide rates in men.

[zakayron]

female suicides tend to be in a fashion to maintain their vanity (as in they remain pretty, and yes I'm serious) so they tend to do stuff like eat pills whereas men DGAF and do stuff like testing gravity and firing guns towards their vital organs. As a result men are more successful in their suicides

[Gaexion Ramza Beoulve]

Life begins with a woman and frequently ends with one.

[Deleted]

A womans greatest obstacle in life is material possession.
A mans greatest obstacle in life is a woman.

Infractions aside, this man speaks the truth!

I'm thinking it may have to do with women having a more biological, nurturing aspect imbedded in them. I can be so off, because I'm no scientist, psycologist nor do I have solid facts to back myself up here, but I think a woman thinks more about the people around her when she's going through a tough time, whereas a man is more likely to be - and I use the word very carefully - "selfish".

But who really knows...

[Providence]

Which means there is a sense of a general lack of purpose creeping in to society for men. Traditionally many still hear how we have to be the bread winners and the responsible family head, but the reality of it is...women can do most of it without us these days. I mean just turn on your TV and look at how men are commonly portrayed these days. Childish, irresponsible, idiotic, petty, chauvinistic, incapable of handling any responsibility. Of course this is for comedy sake, but look back through past TV shows and movies, mans stereotypical role in the world is being systematically broken down and ridiculed. Don't get me wrong, I realize there's still an equality gap and that men aren't falling in to some great domineering shadow of women.

I wouldnt exactly say this. If you look at the differences between how society views men versus women, and especially in the western culture, women are almost disproportionately regarded as better than men and put on a pedestal. Furthermore, men are often disregarded as worthless and replaceable.

In the relationship, women make it a point to let the men know that men are lucky to have them and that they are easily replaceable with something better.
In the workforce, all workers, and more than likely men, are often reminded that they are just worker bees who can easily be replaced.
In schools men are often reinforced that women are smarter, more mature, and morally superior to men.

Its not that we don't have a purpose, its that from conception and on we're taught that we dont matter.

[Eon Drache]

I'm in the US, but I know in my household the men are treated like shit where as the females are treated like gold. If someone fucks up, it is immediately the guys fault. My mother never once yelled at my sis in law, or my niece. But the moment my nephew, who was 5 years younger than my niece screwed up, did something wrong, niece was 11, he was 6, he immediately got his ass spanked and sent to his room with no toys, no dinner, nothing. My mom treated my brothers and I worse. The only males she doesn't bitch at are the ones in the army.

I became suicidal at 14. By overdosing on over 100 Max str tylonal and stabbing myself in the stomach.

[Deleted]

Especially in this day and age, you couldn't be more wrong.

He's fairly accurate actually. In the sense that men repress emotions on average more than women. Can verify by looking at precedence of emotional disorders in men, rate of men on prescription medication etc.

But it's most likely, and this is my opinion, because some men feel emasculated in a society where women are valued more than men in media. Men are almost always depicted as being bad with women, or great with "undesirable" women. Take Friends, arguably one of the most watched sitcoms ever, all the male characters are awful with women except Joey. Joey is an idiot, well meaning but an idiot, and ends up routinely with "bad" women.

Tl;Dr Men feel undervalued and without a purpose.

---------- Post added 2011-11-28 at 02:51 AM ----------

I'm in the US, but I know in my household the men are treated like shit where as the females are treated like gold. If someone fucks up, it is immediately the guys fault. My mother never once yelled at my sis in law, or my niece. But the moment my nephew, who was 5 years younger than my niece screwed up, did something wrong, niece was 11, he was 6, he immediately got his ass spanked and sent to his room with no toys, no dinner, nothing. My mom treated my brothers and I worse. The only males she doesn't bitch at are the ones in the army.

I became suicidal at 14. By overdosing on over 100 Max str tylonal and stabbing myself in the stomach.

First off 100x500mg=50g of tylenol. That's more than ten times the toxic limit. Second, stabbing in the stomach? I hope you went to a shrink for your many issues.

[bigjohnburger]

And do you think society can do anything about it?

Today in the U.K it was announced that a famous retired football player and Welsh manager, Gary Speed committed suicide. Articles are here for more detailed coverage:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15911321
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti....html#comments
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...eed?intcmp=122

Now obviously there was more going on then the public knew about, but what would drive a good looking, successful and wealthy man to suicide? I read this and was reminded of an alarming figure that I had heard about. In the U.K, the most likely cause of death for young men was suicide, and suicide rates among men are 3 times higher then in woman.

So what makes men so much more prone to suicide? Is society constructed in such a fashion that men's emotions are oppressed from a young age. "Man up boy! Don't be such a big girl's blouse!" Or are men more prone to violent acts and so, as a direct result more prone to more violent (and successful..) suicide attempts?

The sole reason for the suicide rate is boys are pushed into thinking that all responsibility for providing for a family is on their shoulders. Most women on the other hand still have the mindset that they can be lazy and not do anything with their lives except lean on men. If a man falls short to societies standards then it's no wonder he would consider suicide.

[Sunseeker]

Because quite simply, women don't commit suicide. They make incredibly lethal cries for help, which generally speaking if caught quickly, can be fixed. You can pump a stomach and bandage wrists, but you can't fix a hole in the head.

[Corjha]

Men succeed more often.

[Deleted]

As others have already pointed out:

Men are more likely to succeed in committing suicide, yet there are more women than men attempting suicide. If we discount factors such as "cries for help" I think (like many others) that the reason for this difference is because of the difference in method. ~57% of suicide attempts by men are with a firearm, compared to ~32% of women. 12.5% of men use poison compared to 37.8% of women. I would assume that poisoning would be easier to treat (also allows more time for reconsideration/regret). Although as you can see there is a difference in the method between genders.


Sources:
http://cebmh.warne.ox.ac.uk/csr/imag...report2008.pdf
http://www.suicide.org/suicide-statistics.html

[Deleted]

it is considered "manly" to not express emotions. heck, to not have any emotions. that's a society thing and pretty ridiculous and old fashioned to me. but it is of course only my opinion.
also, the succeed rate thing is true too. women use suicide attempts as a cry for help, which is in fact nothing else but an expression of helplessness (an emotion).

gender bashing is out of place btw. we're not that different, really.

[-Zait-]

Chicks can rebound >_>

[Cptmyname]

Because men have to deal with women.

I was going to say just this, but apparently that would have gotten be infracted so... I'm not going to state my opinion.

[Kerath]

It's not a subject I really know anything about, so take my opinion with a pinch of salt.

My first line of reasoning is a cultural one. From a young age boys are taught to supress their emotions, men (in general) don't talk about their thoughts and feelings like women do with their friends. Outbursts of emotion can be met with derision and scorn.
When you bottle things up in that way, it's going to find an outlet sooner or later, and most likely a (self) destructive one.
I think due to this whole: "Real men don't cry" kind of garbage that boys are taught, they're less likely to seek help when feeling depressed, they probably view their feelings as 'unmanly'.

A woman is more likely to seek help and advice from friends if she is despressed or emotionally distraught, so likely gets the help she needs much earlier.

All of the above is broad generalisations, I know, and I'm aware that not all men are emotionally repressed he-men and likewise, not all women are as open about psychological problems, but it was the first conclusion I jumped to when reading the OP. As I said, not a subject I know a great deal about.