The vulnerability of young Japanese women and suicide.

Abstract

Young Japanese females had the highest suicide rate in the world until the end of the 1960s, and it is still extremely high. This paper attempts to explain this phenomenon primarily in terms of vulnerability-in their personalities, social conditions, and role conflicts. Concomitant psychological traits and social conditions are discussed. The cultural conflict of young Japanese women is explicated in terms of psychological and historical information. In addition, the reasons for the differences between the suicide rates among females in the Tokyo area and the Kytot-Osaka area are explored largely in terms of concepts relating to authoritarianism and its correlates.