PERCEIVED INCOME INEQUALITY AND SUICIDE RATES IN CENTRAL/EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES AND WESTERN COUNTRIES, 1990-1993

Abstract

Sociological studies on cross-national male and female suicide rates have found numerous factors related to variation in suicide rates. The present study focuses on how perceived differences in income inequality impact suicide rates in 12 different countries, unlike most prior studies on income inequality and suicide that use measures of actual income inequality.Using G. Jasso's (1999) index on perceived income inequality, the author found that perceived income inequality is related more strongly and more consistently to male suicide rates than female suicide rates. Relative to other variables used in this analysis,perceived income inequality also accounts for most of the difference in the gender gap of male versus female suicide rates.