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The Cultural Context of Youth Suicide in Australia: Unemployment, Identity and Gender

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2007

Heidi Gilchrist ,
Glennys Howarth  and
Gerard Sullivan
Heidi Gilchrist
Affiliation:
University of Sydney, Australia
Glennys Howarth
Affiliation:
University of Bath, England
Gerard Sullivan
Affiliation:
University of Sydney, Australia E-mail: g.sullivan@usyd.edu.au
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Abstract

This article considers the impact, in terms of life and death choices, of the economic exclusion of young people in Australia, where suicide is the leading cause of death by injury. In the two decades from 1980 there was a dramatic increase in suicide rates for young males. Research demonstrates a correlation between youth suicide and unemployment but the complex relationship between the two has not been fully investigated. This article explores the perceptions of young people, parents and service providers of the cultural context of suicide and how it comes to be constructed as an option for young people experiencing economic marginalisation.

Type
Articles
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , April 2007 , pp. 151 - 163
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2007

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