Motherhood Is Protective Against Suicide

By Cara

Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 15:54

Mothers with big broods of children are less likely to commit suicide. A study reports that mums with many kids have a higher responsibility rate and therefore think twice before taking extreme steps like suicide.

The study conducted across 12,92,462 women in Taiwan over 20 years concluded a hypothesis postulated by the renowned sociologist, Emile Durkheim in 1897 that parenthood is protective against suicide.

It found a 39 per cent decrease in suicide rate among women with two live births and a 60 per cent decrease among women with three or more births compared to women with one child.

A clear tendency of decreasing suicide rates with increasing number of child births was noted, writes author Dr. Chun-Yuh Yang, Kaoshiung Medical University, Taiwan.

Therefore it was concluded that having children protect mums against suicide because children increase a mother's feelings of self-worth. Children may also provide emotional and material support to a mother and provide her with a positive social role.