Introduction: The rates of suicide are two to three times higher in men than in women in all communities. This "gender paradox" can be explained by various factors, such as more impulsive nature of men and their choice of more efficient (more lethal) methods to commit suicide. This study was aimed at finding the correlation between the gender and other suicidal factors.
Material and methods: The study sample consisted of persons who committed suicide on the territory of Kragujevac in the period from 1996 to 2001. This study was based on the records kept by the Ministry of the Interior as well as by the Psychiatric Clinic of the Clinical Centre "Kragujevac". Data for weather were obtained from the Serbian Meteorological Institute reports.
Results: During the analyzed period 121 suicides were committed on the territory of Kragujevac. The gender structure showed that within persons who committed suicide there were 78.5% men and 21.5% women (p < 0.01). As for diseases which had existed before suicide, women suffered from the underlying psychic disorder in 65.3%, while 50.5% of men had both a psychic disorder and addiction problem. Hanging was the most frequently used method by both men and women (57.9% and 65.4%, respectively); and home was chosen as the place to commit suicide by 49.5% men and 42.3% women. Both men and women had a behaviour disorder before suicide, in 75.8% and 88.4% of the cases, respectively, (p < 0.01). The dominating motive was a disease in 17.9% of men, whereas family problems prevailed in 11.5% of women (p < 0.01).
Conclusion: There is a statistically important difference between men and women considering pre-suicidal behaviour, suicidal motive and suicidal frequency.