TY  - JOUR
T1  - Understanding Suicide in Türkiye: The Role of Income, Unemployment, Consumer Loans, Cost of Living, and Health Expenditure
TT  - Türkiye'de İntiharı Anlamak: Gelir, İşsizlik, Tüketici Kredisi, Hayat Pahalılığı ve Sağlık Harcamalarının Rolü
AU  - Aydınbaş, Gökçen
AU  - Ünlüoğlu, Merve
PY  - 2025
DA  - November
Y2  - 2025
DO  - 10.21121/eab.20250410
JF  - Ege Academic Review
JO  - eab
PB  - Ege University
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 1303-099X
SP  - 795
EP  - 814
VL  - 25
IS  - 4
LA  - en
AB  - A healthy and fulfilling life is essential for individuals to engage effectively and productively within society. The absence of these conditions can increase vulnerability to mental health issues and, in severe cases, lead to suicidal behavior. Suicide is a complex and pressing social issue that reflects not only individual suffering but also broader socioeconomic challenges. Individuals experiencing economic hardship, social isolation, or unmet basic needs are at a heightened risk for suicide, highlighting the need for a comprehensive public health response. It is essential to understand the key contributing factors to develop effective prevention strategies and inform sound social policy. This study aims to investigate the relationship between suicide and various socio-economic factors — including income, unemployment, consumer loans, cost of living, and health expenditure — in Türkiye over the period 1993–2023, using the ARDL bounds testing approach. According to the cointegration test, it is inferred that there is a long-run relationship among the variables. Long-run coefficients show that increases in income and health expenditure reduce suicide cases, while increases in consumer loans increase suicide cases. The coefficient of the error correction term is negative and statistically significant as anticipated. In addition, the results were tested using the FMOLS method, and similar to the ARDL model, the negative relationship between income and the dependent variable and the positive relationship between consumer loans and the dependent variable were found. The causality relationship is investigated by the Toda-Yamamoto test. The findings obtained from this test show that GDP per capita and consumer loans are Granger causes of suicide.
KW  - Suicide
KW  - Gross Domestic Product
KW  - Consumer Loans
KW  - Unemployment
KW  - ARDL Bounds Test Approach
N2  - Sağlıklı ve tatmin edici bir yaşam, bireylerin toplumda etkili ve üretken bir şekilde yer alabilmeleri için gereklidir. Bu koşulların olmaması, ruh sağlığı sorunlarına yatkınlığı artırabilmektedir ve ciddi durumlarda intihar davranışına yol açabilmektedir. İntihar, sadece bireysel acıyı değil, aynı zamanda daha geniş sosyoekonomik zorlukları da yansıtan karmaşık ve acil bir sosyal sorundur. Ekonomik zorluklar, sosyal izolasyon veya karşılanmamış temel ihtiyaçlar yaşayan bireyler intihar riski altındadır ve bu da kapsamlı bir halk sağlığı müdahalesinin gerekliliğini vurgulamaktadır. Etkili önleme stratejileri geliştirebilmek ve güçlü sosyal politikalar oluşturabilmek için, bu süreçleri tetikleyen temel faktörlerin anlaşılması büyük önem taşımaktadır. Bu çalışma, ARDL sınır testi yaklaşımını kullanarak, 1993-2023 dönemi için Türkiye'de intihar ile çeşitli sosyoekonomik faktörler (gelir, işsizlik, tüketici kredileri, hayat pahalılığı ve sağlık harcamaları) arasındaki ilişkiyi araştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Eşbütünleşme testine göre, değişkenler arasında uzun dönemli bir ilişki olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır. Uzun dönem katsayıları, gelir ve sağlık harcamalarındaki artışların intihar vakalarını azalttığını, tüketici kredilerindeki artışların ise intihar vakalarını artırdığını göstermektedir. Hata düzeltme teriminin katsayısı beklentilerle uyumlu olarak negatif ve istatistiksel olarak anlamlıdır. Ayrıca, sonuçlar FMOLS yöntemi kullanılarak test edilmiş ve ARDL modeline benzer şekilde, gelir ile bağımlı değişken arasında negatif bir ilişki ve tüketici kredileri ile bağımlı değişken arasında pozitif bir ilişki olduğu bulunmuştur. Nedensellik ilişkisi Toda-Yamamoto testi ile incelenmiştir. Bu testten elde edilen bulgular, kişi başına GSYİH ve tüketici kredilerinin intiharın Granger nedenleri olduğunu göstermektedir.
CR  - Adler, A. (1997). Psikolojik aktivite, Çev. Belkıs Çorakçı, 3. Baskı, İstanbul: Say Yayınları.
CR  - Altinanahtar, A. & Halicioglu, F. (2009). A dynamic econometric study of suicides in Turkey. MPRA Paper No. 15568. https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen. de/15568/
CR  - Baskak, T. E. (2023). OECD ülkelerinde işsizlik ve intihar girişimleri ilişkisi: Panel Var analizi ve Panel Granger nedensellik analizi. İşletme Araştırmaları Dergisi, 15(1), 437-451. https://doi.org/10.20491/isarder.2023.1596
CR  - Borges, G., Nock, M. K., Haro Abad, J. M., Hwang, I., Sampson, N. A., Alonso, J., Andrade, L. H., Angermeyer,
CR  - M. C., Beautrais, A., Bromet, E., Bruffaerts, R., de Girolamo, G., Florescu, S., Gureje, O., Hu, C., Karam, E. G., Kovess-Masfety, V., Lee, S., Levinson, D., Medina- Mora, M. E., Ormel, J., Posada-Villa, J., Sagar, R., Tomov, T., Uda, H., Williams, D. R., & Kessler, R. C. (2010). Twelve-month prevalence of and risk factors for suicide attempts in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 71(12), 1617–1628. https://doi. org/10.4088/JCP.08m04967blu
CR  - Brenner, M. H. (1979). Mortality and the national economy. A review, and the experience of England and Wales, 1936-76. The Lancet, 314(8142), 568-573.
Chang, S., S. Gunnell, D., Sterne, J. A. C., Lu, T. H., & Cheng, A. T. A. (2009). Was the economic crisis 1997–1998 responsible for rising suicide rates in east/southeast asia? A time-trend analysis for Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. Social Science and Medicine, 68(7), 1322–1331. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.01.010
CR  - Chen, J., Choi, Y. J., & Sawada, Y. (2009). How is suicide different in Japan? Japan and the World Economy, 21(2),	140–150.	https://doi.org/10.1016/j. japwor.2008.06.001
CR  - Collins, A., Cox, A., Kizys, R., Haynes, F., Machin, S., & Sampson, B. (2021). Suicide, sentiment and crisis. The Social Science Journal, 58(2), 206-223.
CR  - Dickey, D. A., & Fuller, W. A. (1979). Distribution of the estimators for autoregressive time series with a unit root. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 74(366), 427-431.
CR  - Dilber, T., & Uysal, D. (2020). İşsizlik ve intihar arasındaki ilişki: Türkiye örneği. Uluslararası Yönetim İktisat ve İşletme Dergisi, 16(3), 729-744. http://dx.doi. org/10.17130/ijmeb.798469
CR  - Dritsaki, C.(2017).Toda–Yamamoto CausalityTestbetween Inflation and Nominal Interest Rates: Evidence from Three Countries of Europe. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 7(6), 120-129.
CR  - Durgun, F., & Durgun, B. (2017). Suicide - income relationship: Causal analysis for Turkey. Dicle University Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences, 7(14), 398-416.
CR  - Durkheim, E. (1897). Le suicide. Paris, Fransa: F. Alcan.
CR  - Eğilmez, M. (2022). Hayat pahalılığı ve enflasyondan farkı. https://www.mahfiegilmez.com/2022/08/hayat- pahallg-ve-enflasyondan-fark.html. (25.02.2025).
CR  - Erdem, C., & Dinç, M. (2022). The socioeconomic determinants of suicide: A panel data analysis. Yıldız Social Science Review, 8(1), 1-12. https://doi. org/10.51803/yssr.1146860
CR  - Freud, S. (1953). Mourning and Melancholia, in: J. Strachey, Ed., The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, 14, London: Hogarth Press.
CR  - Harmancı, P. (2015). Dünya’daki ve Türkiye’deki intihar vakalarının sosyodemografik özellikler açısından incelenmesi. Hacettepe University Faculty of Health Sciences Journal.
CR  - Hamermesh, D., & Soss. M. N. (1974). An economic theory of suicide, Journal of Political Economy, 82(1), 83-98. https://doi.org/10.1086/260171
CR  - Jarque, C. M., & Bera, A. K. (1987). A test for normality of observations and regression residuals. International Statistical Review / Revue Internationale de Statistique, 55(2), 163–172.
CR  - Karul, Ç. (2025). The Impacts of Health Expenditures on Suicidal Deaths: The Case of Türkiye. The International Journal of Economic and Social Research, 21(1), 83- 97.
CR  - Kavaklı, M. (2023). Türkiye’de intiharın sosyo-ekonomik ve sosyo-psikolojik belirleyicileri: Düzey 2 için bir panel veri çözümlemesi. Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, 42(1), 55-71.
CR  - Kızılkaya, O., & Kuzucu, H. (2022). The relationship between suicide cases and economic factors: Panel data analysis. Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey Üniversitesi Sosyal ve Ekonomik Araştırmalar Dergisi, 24(42), 62-80.
CR  - Kwiatkowski, D., Phillips, P. C. B., Schmidt, P., & Shin, Y. (1992). Testing the null hypothesis of stationarity against the alternative of a unit root. Journal of Econometrics, 54(1–3), 159–178.
CR  - Lester, B. Y. (2001). Learnings from Durkheim and Beyond: The economy and suicide. Suicide and Life- Threatening Behavior, 31(1), 15–31.
CR  - Machado, D. B., Rasella, D., & Dos Santos, D. N. (2015). Impact of income inequality and other social determinants on suicide rate in Brazil. PLOS ONE, 10(4), e0124934. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0124934
CR  - Madianos, M. G., Alexiou, T., Patelakis, A., & Economou, M. (2014). Suicide, unemployment and other socioeconomic factors: Evidence from the economic crisis in Greece. European Journal of Psychiatry, 28(1),  39–49. https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S0213-61632014000100004
CR  - Mann, J. J., & Metts, A. V. (2017). The economy and suicide: An interaction of societal and intrapersonal risk factors [Editorial]. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 38(3), 141-146. https://doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/a000487
CR  - Marx, K. (1846). Peuchet on suicide. In D. Fernbach (Ed.), Karl Marx: Surveys from Exile (trans. C. B. Macpherson, pp. 197–202). London: Penguin Books, 1973.
CR  - Mathieu, S., Treloar, A., Hawgood, J., Ross, V., & Kõlves, K. (2022). The role of unemployment, financial hardship, and economic recession on suicidal behaviors and interventions to mitigate their impact: A review. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 907052. https://doi. org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.907052
CR  - Moscicki, E. K. (1995) Epidemiology of Suicide, North American Perspectives. International Psychogeriatrics, 7(2), 137-148.
CR  - Menninger, K. A. (1938). Man against himself. Harcourt, Brace.
CR  - Ministry of Health (2018). https://khgm.saglik.gov.tr/ TR,46896/10-eylul-dunya-intihari-onleme-gunu. html (25.02.2025).
CR  - Narayan, P. K. (2005). The saving and investment nexus for China: evidence from cointegration tests. Applied Economics, 37(17), 1979-1990. http://dx.doi. org/10.1080/00036840500278103
CR  - Narayan, S., & Narayan, P. K. (2005). An empirical analysis of Fiji’s import demand funciton. Journal of Economic Studies, 32(2), 158-168. https://doi. org/10.1108/01443580510600931
CR  - Neumayer, E. (2003). Are socioeconomic factors valid determinants of suicide? Controlling for national cultures of suicide with fixed-effects estimation. Cross-Cultural Research, 37(3), 307-329. https://doi. org/10.1177/1069397103253708
CR  - Nkoro, E., & Uko, A. K. (2016). Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) cointegration technique: Application and interpretation. Journal of Statistical and Econometric Methods, 5(4), 63-91.
CR  - Nock, M. K., Borges, G., Bromet, E. J., Alonso, J., Angermeyer, M., & Beautrais, A. (2008). Cross-national prevalence and risk factors for suicidal ideation, plans and attempts. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 192(2), 98–105. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.107.040113
CR  - Nordt, C., Warnke, I., Seifritz, E., & Kawohl, W. (2015). Modelling suicide and unemployment: A longitudinal analysis covering 63 countries, 2000–11. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2(3), 239–245. https://do
CR  - Okada, K., & Samreth, S. (2013). A study on the socio- economic determinants of suicide: Evidence from 13 European OECD countries. The Journal of Socio- Economics, 45(Supplement C), 78-85. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.socec.2013.04.009
CR  - Pata, U. K., Yurtkuran, S., & Kalça, A. (2016). Energy consumption and economic growth in Turkey: ARDL bounds test approach. Marmara Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Dergisi, 38(2), 255-271. https://doi. org/10.14780/muiibd.281411
CR  - Pesaran, M. H., Shin, Y., & Smith, R. (2001). Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 16(3), 289-326.
CR  - Peuchet, J. (1838). Mémoires tirés des archives de la police de Paris. Paris: Chez l’Éditeur.
CR  - Phillips, P.C.B., & Perron, P. (1988). Testing for a unit root in time series regression. Biometrika, 75(2), 335–346.
CR  - Ringel, E. (1976). The presuicidal syndrome. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 6, 131-149.
CR  - Sher, L. (2006). Per capita income is related to suicide rates in. Men but not in women. The Journal of Men’s Health & Gender, 3(1), 39-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jmhg.2005.04.016
CR  - Socio-Political Field Research Centre (2020). https://www. sahamerkezi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ intihar-1.pdf. (25.02.2025).
CR  - Stack, S. (1981). Divorce and suicide: A time series analysis, 1933-1970. Journal of Family Issues, 2(1), 77-90. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X8100200106
CR  - Toda, H. Y., & Yamamoto, T. (1995). Statistical inference in vector autoregressions with possibly integrated processes. Journal of Econometrics, 66(1–2), 225–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-4076(94)01616-8
CR  - TURKSTAT (2020). Ölüm ve ölüm nedeni istatistikleri, 2015–2019 [Veri seti]. https://data.tuik.gov.tr
CR  - TURKSTAT  (2024). https://data.tuik.gov.tr/ Bu lt en/ I nd e x? p= Ol um- v e - Ol um- Ne den i- Istatistikleri-2023-53709. (25.02.2025).
CR  - Weis, M. A. (1974). Suicide. A handbook of psychiatry, (Ed.) S Arieti, New York. Basic books Inc. Publishers, 743-65.
CR  - WHO (2018). Global health estimates 2016: deaths by cause, age, sex, by country and by region, 2000-2016.
CR  - WHO (2021). Suicide world wide in 2019 global health estimates.	https://www.who.int/publications/i/ item/9789240026643. (25.02.2025).
CR  - WHO (2024). https://www.who.int/campaigns/world- suicide-prevention-day/world-suicide-prevention- day-2024
CR  - World Population Review (2025). https:// worldpopulationreview.com/
CR  - Yılancı, V., & Özcan, B. (2010). Analyzing the relationship between defense expenditures and GNP for Turkey under structural breaks. C.Ü İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Dergisi, 11(1), 21-33.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.21121/eab.20250410
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/4681192
ER  -