In Taiwan Motherhood Negatively Tied to Suicide Rates

RedTracker| A 20-year Taiwan study of over 1 milliion women has confirmed a hypothesis of sociologist Emile Durkeim in 1897 that parenthood in women is associated with lower rates of suicide. It found a 39% decrease in suicide-related mortality among women with two live births and a 60% decrease among women with three or more births compared to women with one child.

Researchers speculate that the reasons are more sociological than biological, although that assumption has not been investigated. In Taiwan the results are tied to a more positive self-identity for mothers with children.

Nor can the results be extrapolated internationally.

Most Western countries have had a stable or decreasing suicide rate in the 1990s. The male to female ratio of suicide is often greater than 3:1 in Western countries, whereas it is 2:1 in Taiwan because of high suicide rates in women. In Western countries, rates of suicide among women have been decreasing while rates among men have been increasing, contradicting the Durkeim assumption that women without children are more likely to commit suicide. via Science Daily