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.
