Women's fatalistic suicide in Iran: a partial test of Durkheim in an Islamic Republic.

Durkheim's theory of fatalistic suicide, or suicide resulting from overregulation of behavior, has been neglected empirically. The authors test this hypothesis in Iran by examining the geographic distribution of female suicide. Employing the province as the unit of analysis, they examine the association between female suicide rates and multiple measures of social control of women, with rates expected to be higher in areas with greater social regulation of the lives of women and stronger traditional tribal cultures. Results show that provinces with lower levels of female education, female labor force participation, and urbanization have higher female suicide rates. Thus, whereas social deregulation is often associated with higher suicide rates in the West, the authors' findings reveal that hyperregulation is associated with higher suicide rates in Iran, at least for women.