Dissertation Research: The Effects of Suicide Prevention Programs on Local Understandings of Suicide and Gender in Rural China

论文研究：自杀预防计划对中国农村地区自杀和性别理解的影响

• 批准号: 0514611
• 负责人: Bradley Stoner
• 金额: $ 0.62万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-07-01 至 2007-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0514611&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Effects; Suicide; Prevention

China has higher suicide rates among women than men, primarily due to female suicides in rural areas. The gender pattern of suicide in China is a unique trend that runs counter to those in other countries. This has become a major concern of scholars and health professionals and diverse suicide prevention efforts have recently been initiated in rural China. This dissertation research by a cultural anthropologist from Washington University in St. Louis examines how suicide prevention programs influence people's conceptions of gender and suicide in rural areas of China. The project will explore local meanings of suicide and perceptions of gender in local discourse of suicide, and attempt to understand the role of the various suicide prevention efforts in cultivating a new conception of Chinese identity, particularly with regard to gender. To attain this goal, the researcher will conduct comparative ethnographic research in two rural villages, one of which has a suicide prevention program and one which does not. Participation observation, focus groups, in-depth interviewing, and textual analysis will be utilized to understand the relationship between suicide and gender and the role of suicide prevention programs in producing new ideas about suicide and gender. This research will advance an anthropological approach to suicide as a means of understanding a society and culture undergoing rapid change. This research will also contribute to theories within medical anthropology by investigating changing local concepts of suicide in China, a society that is increasingly integrated with global forces. The broader impact of this research, in addition to its contribution to the education of a young social scientist, is the new knowledge it will generate with regard to suicide, which will in turn contribute to developing a better agenda for preventing suicide in China and other countries. By investigating the effects of current suicide prevention programs on conceptions of suicide with regard to gender, this research will lead to the development of more gender-sensitive prevention programs for rural Chinese. More broadly, this research will shed light on cultural dimensions of suicide prevention efforts that may help make them more effective in China and other countries by providing an explanation of how suicide can be differently understood in diverse local settings.

中国女性的自杀率高于男性，主要原因是农村地区的女性自杀。中国的性别自杀模式是一种独特的趋势，与其他国家相反。这已成为学者和卫生专业人员关注的主要问题，最近在中国农村开展了各种自杀预防工作。来自圣路易斯华盛顿大学的一位文化人类学家的论文研究考察了自杀预防项目如何影响中国农村地区人们的性别观念和自杀观念。该项目将探讨自杀在当地的意义，以及自杀话语中对性别的看法，并试图了解各种预防自杀的努力在培养新的中国人身份概念方面的作用，特别是在性别方面。为了实现这一目标，研究者将在两个农村进行比较民族志研究，其中一个有自杀预防计划，另一个没有。参与观察、焦点小组、深度访谈和文本分析将被用来理解自杀和性别之间的关系，以及自杀预防计划在产生关于自杀和性别的新想法中的作用。这项研究将推进自杀的人类学方法，作为理解正在快速变化的社会和文化的手段。这项研究还将通过调查中国这个日益与全球力量融合的社会中不断变化的自杀观念，为医学人类学的理论做出贡献。这项研究的更广泛的影响，除了它对年轻社会科学家的教育的贡献，是它将产生关于自杀的新知识，这反过来将有助于制定一个更好的议程，以防止自杀在中国和其他国家。通过调查目前的自杀预防项目对性别自杀观念的影响，本研究将导致中国农村地区更多性别敏感的预防项目的发展。更广泛地说，这项研究将揭示自杀预防工作的文化维度，通过解释如何在不同的地方环境中不同地理解自杀，可能有助于使自杀预防工作在中国和其他国家更有效。