H: Suicide, Culture, and Society from a Cross-National Perspective

In this article, the authors explored the associations between suicide rates and a large number of sociocultural indexes, within the sociological frame-work provided by Durkheim and taking into account recent sociological theories. The analyses were performed on a sample of 87 nations and a sub-sample of posttraditional societies. The authors found strong positive (lin-ear) correlations between suicide rates and measures of secularization, and curvilinear relationships between measures of individualization and suicide rates. Negative associations were found between suicide rates and measures of individualization in a subsample of posttraditional countries. Following the postmodernization and reflexive modernization theories, the authors argue that a new form of individualization is in place in secular–rational societies. This form of individualization exercises a negative effect on suicide rates through its positive influence on social integration and regulation