Geographic variation in suicide rates: relationships to social factors, migration, and ethnic history.
Geographic variation in suicide rates is thought to be the result of interactions between two major components: the social organization combined with cultural tradition and biological or genetic factors. The present study examined regional patterns of suicide rates in European Russia. Our study looked at ethnic and national formations with respect to suicide patterns. The results indicated that the suicide rates vary greatly among the regions of the Russian Federation, with suicides more common in the northern regions of European Russia than in the south of the country. The south and north gradient of suicide distributions in Russia resemble that of other European countries. Throughout the Middle ages the north and northwest territory of present-day Russia has been an area of intensive interethnic contacts between the Old Slavs, which have colonized this territory, and native people of Finno-Ugrian and Baltic origin. The results indicated that the historical prevalence of the Finno-Ugrian component in the north of the country has possibly led to its higher suicide rate.
Kandrychyn
Siarhei
S
Institute of Sociology, National Academy of Science, Minsk, Belarus. kandrych02@yahoo.com