Suicide methods differ between men and women Women who commit
suicide are more likely than men to avoid facial disfiguration,
but not necessarily in the name of vanity. Valerie Callanan from
the University of Akron and Mark Davis from the Criminal Justice
Research Center at the Ohio State University, USA, show that
there are marked gender differences in the use of suicide
methods that disfigure the face or head. While firearms are the
preferred method for both men and women, women are less likely
to shoot themselves in the head. The study is published online
in Springer's journal Sex Roles. Although a number of studies
have looked at gender differences in suicide risk, few have
examined gender differences in suicide methods. Understanding
gender differences in suicide methods has important implications
for suicide prevention efforts. Callanan and Davis examined the
medical examiner's files of 621 suicide cases in Summit County,
Ohio in the US, covering a 10-year period (1997-2006). They
found that women were