GENDER AND THE PRIMARY PREVENTION OF SUICIDE MORTALITY

Primary prevention aims at reducing the incidence of a disorder. The f irst step in primary prevention involves documenting the magnitude of the problem and identifying risk factors. Consistent with primary prev ention practices, we review the national and international epidemiolog ical data on suicide mortality and then discuss the implications these data hold for primary prevention. Our approach is novel because we sy stematically examine the suicide epidemiology data by gender and cultu re. Suicide mortality appears to be highest among individuals (e.g., y oung adult married females in some Papua New Guinea regions; older adu lt, isolated, White males in the United States) for whom such behavior is culturally sanctioned. Thus, an important target for primary preve ntion may be local cultures of gender and suicide.