CULTURAL-ASPECTS OF SUICIDE - THE CASE OF JAPANESE OYAKO SHINJU (PARENT-CHILD SUICIDE)

The psychocultural view of suicide deals with it in terms of an intera ction between personality and environment, especially the social resou rces available for the individual. Social resources are environmental factors that the individual can use for his tension-reduction and prob lem-solving. That social resources and personality are involved in Jap anese suicide is illustrated by oyako shinju (''parent-child suicide'' in Japan; ''murder-suicide'' in the United States). It is concluded t hat social meanings attached to self-destructive behaviour is understa ndable only by personological, contextualized approaches to suicide.