بررسي ارتباط باورهاي فرهنگي با خودكشي ( مورد مطالعه : شهرستان هاي كوهدشت و پلدختر)

The Relationship between Cultural Beliefs and Suicide

Over the past three decades, suicide phenomenon has led to death of some women and youth in western provinces in Iran: Ilam, Lorestan and Kerman-shah. Statistics indicate that suicide is one of the most important reasons of death in the above- mentioned provinces. The present research is an analysis of circumstances leading to suicide in Lorestans rural society (Koohdasht and Poldokhtar towns) over the years 2003 to 2006. The article specifically aims at examining impact of cultural beliefs over suicide in the under-survey region. The research statistical community concentrates on 621 selected suicide cases in rural regions during the aforesaid period. Through purposeful sampling interviews, which were arranged with 50 members of the victimsʹ families and 20 individuals who planned to commit suicide i.e. all together 80 individuals were selected for this purpose. The cultural beliefs of the people in the region such as deprecating divorce, vision toward love before marriage, social marks,gender-wise understanding of job and manly vision toward training in family, have either direct or indirect effect on committing suicide. The pivotal reasoning of the article is that suicide is significantly influenced by social marks and traditional norms and values dominating rural commu- C/5 g nities including protecting reputation, individual prejudices, and beliefs con-< cerning deprecating love affairs before marriage. Marking individuals with negative points has had a significant influence on individualsʹ tendency toward committing suicide. Considering relative relationship among boys and girls before marriage as a taboo has had more impact on committing suicide compared with other factors.