Selbstmord in zwei Grosstädten. Ein sozio-kultureller Vergleich

During 1965-67 fifty consecutive cases of completed suicide were investigated in vienna and los angeles by identical methods, and the results compared. data were obtained by means of intensive semi-structured interviews with the nearest surviving relative. the interview related to the external circumstances of the suicide act, overt and covert warnings given of suicidal intent on the part of the deceased, the reactions of others to such forewarning, presumed motives, and theseriousness of the attempt. beside the immediate circumstances, family history, childhood and adolescence, physical and mental health, marital adjustment, social and leisure activities, occupational and financial status and housing were investigated. moreover, for a number of comparisons data from 44 additional suicides from los angeles and 99 various from vienna were available, those being cases where for various reasons partial data only could be secured. differences found between the two local samples were in part due to the differing age and sex compositions of the populations from which the samples were drawn, a case in point being the preponderance of elderly female suicides in the vienna group. in part, however, there seem to exist genuine differences in the sources of stress due to cultural specifics. (...);