Sex Differences in Suicide among Chemists

Abstract

Suicides among twenty-eight female chemists and among sixty-three male chemists were investigated for age, marital status, educational qualifications, type of employment, minority status, chemical specialties, and method of suicide. Although work played a significant part in suicides by both males and females, there were marked sex differences. Isolation, the leading work-related factor, occurred more frequently and with greater intensity among women. Similarly, while the majority of women suffered some form of sex discrimination, none of the men did. The leading nonwork-related causes were interpersonal problems and mental illness, the latter also more common among women. Low self-esteem coupled with high achievement orientation was a dangerous combination of personality characteristics found twice as frequently in suicides by female as by male chemists. In conclusion, suicide prevention guidelines are proposed.