GENDER, MARRIAGE, AND SUICIDE ACCEPTABILITY - A COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS

The previous work on suicide acceptability has neglected gender specif ic analysis of the marriage-suicide acceptability linkage as well as c ross-national analysis. The present study fills these gaps in the lite rature through an analysis of 15 nations. Controlling for alternative predictors of suicide acceptability, marriage lowers suicide acceptabi lity for both males and females. Further marriage lowers suicide accep tability more for men than for women. This gendered relationship has t he same strength in nations both high and low in economic gender equal ity. The results provide the first comparative evidence on the subject . The findings support the notion that men derive relatively more bene fits from marriage than women. However the strongest correlates of sui cide acceptability (e.g., religiosity, liberalism, French residence) a ffect men and women equally.