Jonathan Scourfield*, Nina Jacob†, Nina Smalley‡, Lindsay Prior§ and Katy Greenland¶
*Senior Lecturer, †PhD Student, ¶Lecturer, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff, ‡Freelance Researcher, and
§Professor of Sociology, Queen’s University, Belfast, UK
Child and Family Social Work 2007, 12, pp 248–257
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to uncover gendered interpretations of various kinds
of suicidal behaviour. Its empirical basis is focus group discussions
with a range of young people, including users of social work services.
In support of Canetto’s research, the authors found some of the young
people to be associating ‘successful’ suicides with masculinity and
‘failed’ suicide attempts with femininity. These feminized suicide
attempts were subject to some fairly pejorative interpretations, such
as being motivated by revenge or manipulation. There was no particular
pattern of viewpoints in terms of the sex of respondents. The
implications of these findings for social work are discussed.
Filed under: Suicide, attempted suicide, focus groups, gender, Suicide, young people
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