Honor-Related Suicide in the United States: A Study of National Violent Death Reporting System Data

Personal honor is associated with culturally defined honor-norms and its loss may predicate suicide. This exploratory study aimed to identify honor-related suicides within a public health dataset and to compare them to other suicides. Honor-related suicides (n = 163) were identified from case narratives within the National Violent Death Reporting System dataset. The distribution of factors associated with honor-related suicide were compared with all other suicides (n = 54,333). Honor-related suicides were more likely associated with leaving a suicide note; discussing suicidal intent; criminal-legal, job and relationship problems; and suffering depression while being less likely to seek help for distress. They were not associated with gender or suicide method. Honor suicides were identified and appear to be most associated with public challenges to personal reputation. Implications for suicide prevention are discussed.