Completed suicide and gender equality: Sex and age specific five-year data from Turkey

29th European Congress of Psychiatry , Florence, İtalya, 1 - 30 Nisan 2021, cilt.64, ss.834

Introduction: Suicide is a public health problem which has biopsychosocial

aspects. These three compartments function differently

for women and men in terms of biology and gender inequality.

Objectives: This study aims to investigate completed suicide rates

in Turkey for women and men seperately considering age ranges for

each, and their relationship with gender equality.

Methods: Sex and age specific data between 2015-2019 was derived

from Turkish Statistical Institute. Utilizing Bağdatlı Kalkan’s study

(2018) and Turkey’s Gender Equality Ratings (2019), 81 cities were

seperated into two clusters (Table 1). Mann Whitney U and Independent

Samples T Test were applied.

Results: Young women’s (<30 years old) crude completed suicide

rates were higher, when crude completed suicide rates for men over

the age of 30 were fewer in the cities which equality index is low

(Table 2). Regardless of age ranges, in better gender equality cluster,

female suicide rates were fewer, male suicide rates were higher. The

number of deaths by suicide in 1000 deaths didn’t differ for men,

while the rate decreases for women in better gender equality cluster

(Table 3).

Conclusions: Gender inequality may negatively effect young

women’s mental health in more patriarchal cities in Turkey from

the point of completed suicide.