How do modernizing social changes affect suicide risks for youths in small economically developing societies? Since Durkheim, social researchers have hypothesized that processes of social disintegration and processes of normative cultural disequilibrium can increase suicide rates. A lifestyle incongruity hypothesis has also been proposed. This article tests these competing hypotheses for the epidemic of suicide that occurred on culturally diverse communities of the Pacific Islands of Micronesia. The sample includes 74 municipalities of the Federated States of Micronesia. Multiple regression analyses suggest that the best analytic model includes the degree of urbanization, the levels of social integration, and the incongruity between modern economic resources and achieved modern material lifestyle. These results suggest that researchers should attend more to the way communities aspire to and participate in global markets as opposed to shifting adult role structures and occupations as a site for understanding the relationship between rapid social change and suicide.

中文翻译：

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社会变革和密克罗尼西亚自杀死亡率：竞争假设检验

现代化的社会变革如何影响经济发展中小社会中青年的自杀风险？自涂尔干以来，社会研究人员假设社会解体过程和规范文化失衡过程会增加自杀率。还提出了生活方式不协调假说。本文针对发生在密克罗尼西亚太平洋群岛的多元文化社区中的自杀流行病，检验了这些相互矛盾的假设。样本包括密克罗尼西亚联邦的 74 个城市。多元回归分析表明，最好的分析模型包括城市化程度、社会融合水平以及现代经济资源与实现的现代物质生活方式之间的不协调。