Truk Suicide Epidemic and Social Change

Abstract

Since the early 1970s the Micronesian island group of Truk has witnessed an epidemic increase in the number of suicides among young males. In recent years the suicide rate in Truk has ranked among the highest in the Pacific. A study of the cases shows that the suicides, following clear culturally embedded patterns, occur as a result of trouble within the victim''s family. The suicide, motivated primarily by anger or shame, is a resolution to this conflict that follows the lines of traditional withdrawal strategies for dealig with such situations. The various cultural forces that contribute to the attractiveness of suicide among Trukese males are discussed in this article. While intensive studies have shown that there is no direct correlation between suicides and modernization, as measured through most ordinary indices, the rapid change that has taken place in Truk since World War II undoubtedly has a bearing on the suicide epidemic. Changes in the structure of the family have placed new burdensome demands on parents as the process of nuclearization of the family has occurred in recent years. It is the alteration of roles that is believed to have been responsible for the suicide epidemic. Yet there is some evidence that this may be a single-generation phenomenon with rates subsiding as parents learn to handle their new roles.