Psychological Tensions Found in Suicide Notes: A Test for the Strain Theory of Suicide

Abstract

As a comprehensive and parsimonious theory explaining the socio-psychological mechanism prior to suicidal behavior, strain theory of suicide postulates that conflicting and competing pressures in an individual's life usually precede a suicide. The theory proposes four sources of strain leading to suicide: (1) value strain from conflicting values, (2) aspiration strain from the discrepancy between aspiration and reality, (3) deprivation strain from relative deprivation such as poverty, and (4) coping strain from deficient coping skills in the face of a crisis. This research has content-analyzed 40 suicide notes (20 by suicide completers and 20 by suicide attempters) and found strong support for the strain theory of suicide. Although little difference is found in the number and pattern of strains between the completers and attempters, both groups have many aspirations and coping strains and few value and deprivation strains. Also, the older a suicidal victim is, the more he/she feels deprived and lacks coping skills and feels less bothered with value conflicts. Although the study has offered some support for the new theory, future research with more rigorous quantitative data needs to be conducted to further test the theory on a more comprehensive level.