Suicide and Irish migrants in Britain: identity and integration

Although cross-national comparisons of suicide data may be notoriously unre liable, the suicide rates of Irish-born people in Britain appear to be grea ter than those of the Irish in Ireland. This paper provides a review of the literature and examines evidence that migration to Britain heightens the r isk of suicide for It ish people. Other studies from North America and Aust ralia appear to confirm that the experience of living abroad for many Irish people is stressful. The reasons for this stress are complicated. In Brita in, the relatively unsettled nature of Irish migration and the inability of the Irish to create an authentic identity may play a significant role. Iri sh cultural attitudes to health and the use of alcohol as an accepted metho d of coping with stress may also add to the cell.