title: The cultural meaning of suicide: what does that mean?
abstract: Scholars sometimes stress that it is important to know the individual meaning of suicide and the cultural meaning of suicide, but the meaning of these terms remains unclear. The present article discusses this problem and suggests that the individual meaning of suicide is best based on the motives for suicide, while the cultural meaning of suicide is best rooted in the lay theories of suicide in which the members of cultures and subcultures believe.
authors.affiliation: The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Galloway, NJ 08205-9441, USA. lesterd@stockton.edu
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lester
mesh_terms: D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D013405:Suicide / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology