Papers by Ilkka Henrik Mäkinen
Social Science & Medicine, Jan 1, 2000
Social Science & …, Jan 1, 2008
Archives of Suicide Research, Jan 1, 2003
Social Science & Medicine, Jan 1, 2006
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Europe-Asia …, Jan 1, 2009
Abstract Levels of institutional trust in Russia are amongst the lowest in the world. As yet, how... more Abstract Levels of institutional trust in Russia are amongst the lowest in the world. As yet, however, little research has focused on this phenomenon at the sub-national level. The current study examines trust in social and political institutions among citizens in Moscow in 2004. ...
Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and …, Jan 1, 1997
This article describes suicide-related penal legislation in contemporary Europe, and analyzes and... more This article describes suicide-related penal legislation in contemporary Europe, and analyzes and relates the results to cultural attitudes towards suicide and to national suicide rates. Data were obtained from 42 legal entities. Of these, 34 have penal regulations which--according to definition--chiefly and directly deal with suicide. There are three main types of act: aiding suicide, abetting suicide, and driving to suicide. The laws vary considerably with regard to which acts are sanctioned, how severely they are punished, and whether any special circumstances such as the motive, the result, or the object can make the crime more serious. Various ideologies have inspired legislation: religions, the euthanasia movement, and suicide prevention have all left their mark. There are some cases in which neighboring legal systems have clearly influenced laws on the topic. However, the process seems mostly to have been a national affair, resulting in surprisingly large discrepancies between European legal systems. The laws seem to reflect public opinions: countries which punish the crimes harder have significantly less permissive cultural attitudes towards suicide. Likewise, suicide rates were significantly higher in countries with a narrow scope of criminalization and milder punishments for suicide-related crimes. The cultural and normative elements of society are connected with its suicide mortality.
Archives of Suicide …, Jan 1, 2002
The suicide panorama is not static but continually changing with the devel-opment of society. In ... more The suicide panorama is not static but continually changing with the devel-opment of society. In this article changes in suicide rates and attitudes towards suicide in Sweden from pre-modern to modern time are described, with suicidal murders as an interesting ...
Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and …, Jan 1, 2002
The theme of the 8th European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behavior, Bled, Slovenia, in Sept... more The theme of the 8th European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behavior, Bled, Slovenia, in September 2000, was Suicide Risk and Protective Factors in the New Millenni-um. Having followed the presentations of the current state of the art of suicidology during ...
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Attitudes concerning the acceptability of suicide have been emphasized as being important for und... more Attitudes concerning the acceptability of suicide have been emphasized as being important for understanding why levels of suicide mortality vary in different societies across the world. While Russian suicide mortality levels are among the highest in the world, not much is known about attitudes to suicide in Russia. This study aims to obtain a greater understanding about the levels and correlates of suicide acceptance in Russia. Data from a survey of 1,190 Muscovites were analysed using logistic regression techniques. Suicide acceptance was examined among respondents in relation to social, economic and demographic factors as well as in relation to attitudes towards other moral questions. The majority of interviewees (80%) expressed condemnatory attitudes towards suicide, although men were slightly less condemning. The young, the higher educated, and the non-religious were more accepting of suicide (OR > 2). However, the two first-mentioned effects disappeared when controlling for tolerance, while a positive effect of lower education on suicide acceptance appeared. When controlling for other independent variables, no significant effects were found on suicide attitudes by gender, one's current family situation, or by health-related or economic problems. The most important determinants of the respondents' attitudes towards suicide were their tolerance regarding other moral questions and their religiosity. More tolerant views, in general, also seemed to explain the more accepting views towards suicide among the young and the higher educated. Differences in suicide attitudes between the sexes seemed to be dependent on differences in other factors rather than on gender per se. Suicide attitudes also seemed to be more affected by one's earlier experiences in terms of upbringing and socialization than by events and processes later in life.
Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, Jan 1, 2006
The relationship between agricultural rationalization and suicide mortality has been little resea... more The relationship between agricultural rationalization and suicide mortality has been little researched. On the basis of the hypothesis that agricultural rationalization leads to more suicide, this study investigated whether a general relationship could be found between structural change in agriculture and suicide mortality in post-war Europe. Due to the expected small size of the effect, the data were deliberately collected so as to maximize the variation in the independent variable. Annual national-level data on suicide mortality, the percentage of the work force in agricultural employment, and the unemployment level were collected from those countries and 10-year periods where the structural changes (reductions in employment) in agriculture between 1950 and 1995 had been most and least pronounced. In order to avoid confounders, the annual changes in the variables' values were correlated with each other, adding a control for the level of unemployment, and allowing for lagged effects. The annual changes in the levels of agricultural employment and those of suicide mortality did not covary at all. Controlling for unemployment levels did not change this, nor could any lagged effects be found. At the most general level, no causal relation between agricultural rationalization and suicide mortality was detected. This lack of a universal relation does not, however, preclude the possibility of the relationship existing given certain socio-historical circumstances.
British Journal of Criminology, Jan 1, 2005
With the collapse of Communism, statistics relating to previously 'taboo' pheno... more With the collapse of Communism, statistics relating to previously 'taboo' phenomena such as homicide became available in the Soviet Union for the first time in over 50 years. The current study builds on several recent studies of homicide in Russia by extending both its ...
Psychological reports, Jan 1, 2010
Previous publications have reported two conflicting patterns describing the relationship between ... more Previous publications have reported two conflicting patterns describing the relationship between income and suicide in Sweden; positive and negative. Methodologically the studies have differed, and the analysis has been limited to a few areas. To better understand the relationship, a nationwide, cross-sectional, ecological study of the 290 municipalities in Sweden was planned. OLS regression analyses showed the overall and female suicide rates were negatively related to income, while the effect on male suicide rates was not statistically significant. The results confirm earlier findings of a negative relationship between income and suicide.
Social Psychiatry and …, Jan 1, 2010
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Papers by Ilkka Henrik Mäkinen