Why is that men are more successful at suicides than women?

[Ironweed]

When Suicide Rates Are Higher Among Women
In many traditional societies, however, women have higher suicide rates than men. This happens in countries like China, India, and some Pacific islands, where women face severe social pressures, forced marriages, domestic violence, and discrimination, with fewer opportunities to escape oppressive situations. In these contexts, suicide becomes an extreme form of rebellion or a desperate escape from an unbearable reality.

That's not what Wikipedia shows:

List of countries by suicide rate - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

At least on desktop you can sort the table on the site. The only country in the world with a higher female than male rate is Grenada, and even there the difference isn't statistically significant. Plus the country is so small one or two suicides doubtless mess the ratio up.

FWIW, the male suicide rate in China, Samoa and Tonga is roughly double that of females. On the Solomon Islands it is 14 times(!) higher. (Those were the only three "South Sea islands" nations I could think of. ) So either Wikipedia's data is wrong or your claim is. Or maybe the three islands I chose have the same issue as Grenada in that with small populations a few suicides could artificially tilt the numbers from historical averages, dunno. Possibly China has a discrepancy between rural and urban populations, but if that data is available somewhere I'm not sure where to find it. (FWIW, there's a difference in rural vs. urban/suburban US suicide rates, I know that, I'm just not quite sure which way it goes, though I think rural is higher. Way more guns per capita, etc.)

 

[L'absent]

That's not what Wikipedia shows:

List of countries by suicide rate - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

At least on desktop you can sort the table on the site. The only country in the world with a higher female than male rate is Grenada, and even there the difference isn't statistically significant. Plus the country is so small one or two suicides doubtless mess the ratio up.

FWIW, the male suicide rate in China, Samoa and Tonga is roughly double that of females. On the Solomon Islands it is 14 times(!) higher. (Those were the only three "South Sea islands" nations I could think of. ) So either Wikipedia's data is wrong or your claim is. Or maybe the three islands I chose have the same issue as Grenada in that with small populations a few suicides could artificially tilt the numbers from historical averages, dunno. Possibly China has a discrepancy between rural and urban populations, but if that data is available somewhere I'm not sure where to find it. (FWIW, there's a difference in rural vs. urban/suburban US suicide rates, I know that, I'm just not quite sure which way it goes, though I think rural is higher. Way more guns per capita, etc.)

My statement is based on a vast body of scientific literature that has consistently documented how, in China, female suicide rates have historically been higher than male suicide rates. This is not an uncertain claim or an opinion, but a fact reported in multiple authoritative academic studies. For example, the study Suicide and Social Change in China by Michael R. Phillips (2004), published in Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, clearly demonstrates this reality. The same applies to the study Suicide rates in China, 1995–99 by Jianlin Ji (2002), published in The Lancet, which highlights how women, especially in rural areas, had higher suicide rates than men. Additionally, the study China's female suicide rates: Trends and characteristics by Jie Zhang (2009), published in Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, confirms this trend without ambiguity.
If new claims are now emerging that suggest a reversal of this phenomenon, these studies must be carefully verified and compared with preexisting literature before being accepted as definitive truths. The fact that Wikipedia reports a recent update does not automatically mean it is more reliable than decades of research proving the opposite. Wikipedia is not an academic source and often relies on partial data or updates that lack a broader critical analysis.
Therefore, before stating with certainty that the situation has reversed, many more independent studies and confirmations are needed to explain why and how such a change—one that has never had solid backing in scientific literature until now—would have occurred.

 

[LunarEc]

I was watching Dexter yesterday, you know the schizophrenic serial killer guy, as I was watching. There was an episode of a suicide, the first thing that they suspected is that it was murder even though it was clear the woman had shot herself then Dexter says that "it's highly unlikely for women to commit suicide by firearms., they'll take the sweet way out by cutting their wrists or taking pills," sort of the reason they immediately suspected murder. I'm pretty sure that's a fact, women are more likely to use methods which aren't guaranteed, and men are more likely to use firearms. Which almost 99% of the time prove to be fatal.

 

[Ironweed]

Trends and characteristics by Jie Zhang (2009)

The fact that your most recent reference is from 2009 is rather telling, since it largely bypasses the drastic decline in female suicide rates in China since 2000.

Suicide rates

<div><span style="background-color:initial;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;text-align:inherit;text-transform:inherit;white-space:inherit;word-spacing:normal;caret-color:auto;"><strong>Who is at risk?</strong></span></div><div><br /></div><div>While the link between suicide and mental...

www.who.int

The table is slow loading and horribly laggy, but you can get data back to 2000.

I'll concede 1959 to you if you will concede 2023 to me.

On a more serious note, the fact that the rates are far closer than they are in the West is certainly of interest, where it is more like 4 to 1.

Wikipedia is not an academic source and often relies on partial data or updates that lack a broader critical analysis.

As noted above, the World Health Organization uses essentially the same numbers, which show male suicide rate in China as higher than females. And, of course, similar outcomes for the South Pacific for what I quoted earlier. Where male suicide rates are either higher or much higher than female rates, seemingly across the board.

 

[WhatAFish]

It is not that men are more successful at suicide. It is just that this world puts more pressure on them, so many are just more prone to suicide. Even out of trans suicides, MtF is significantly more common than FtM and MtF are more shunned in general. Society runs at a point where a man is meant to single handedly provide, show no emotion, and has to be the one pursuant of romantic interest. With inflation, it is increasingly more difficult to provide. In withholding emotion, they kill their hearts. Also many men just don't have it in them to pursue romantic interests, and wish they could be the ones letting love come to them.

Men tend to be prone to depression (lack of emotion, rather than a womans overwhelming emotion) in general. This is also why women cut much more often than men, as they cut to let out all they feel. Many men don't feel as though they feel anything, so cutting doesn't help the same way. Men are more prone to loneliness as well.

I have always felt lucky as a woman, that if I ever wanted love, I had plenty of suitors and could let it in with whoever I chose. I know men who have gone their entire lives without a suitor. Being a man seems so competitive and there are so many that just don't seem cut out for what society expects of them. Being a woman has it's share of issues as well, but we generally have more of a support system around us, people we can lean on. Women are often objectified, but at least we are treasured. Men are all too often treated as unimportant and cast aside. I get very sad for them just thinking about all they have to endure., just for being born male.

Really good observation

 

[DOHARDTHINGS24]

Ok, I started reading this thread & it was longer than I thought so I didn't finish reading, & have run out of time, apologies if someone covered this - I agree with so much upthread regarding men & loneliness / isolation, impulsivity, violent methods etc. And women attempting via OD & failing.
So much to agree with.
But I don't know if anyone mentioned guilt & care responsibilities.
For young people, that might be split more evenly, but as an old-ish woman from a demo with a high suicide rate, the guilt of leaving people behind (eg children) plus other family responsibilities (eg parents), women I know carry that burden more than men.
Another one I'm not sure if mentioned, but I think it's more common for men to think people will be "better off" without them than women. Maybe not knowing how much they are valued?
And definitely a difference across cultures & generations - my perspective is old, not young.
sorry, no time to express properly, so please forgive poor wording - maybe I shouldn't have posted until more time...