Risk Factors of Self-Destructive Behaviors in the Context of Cultural Transformations

Abstract

Taking the cases of Australian aboriginal people and Siberian Evenkis, the article discusses the issue of interaction of dissimilar cultures – on the one hand, autochthonous, traditional, having no developed literacy systems, and functioning without state structures or colonizing cultures; on the other, literate, technologically oriented, and developing in the context of statehood. The two people under consideration differ as much as state politics and policies that were applied to them. What they have in common, however, are negative factors such as the increase in mortality rates due to deaths of people under 40, self-destructive behavior (alcoholism, accidents, fights, or involuntary manslaughter), and suicides that are especially prominent among the youth. The article examines the use of population models to consider the possible causes of the depressive behavior against the backdrop of a relatively decent level of social stability, and explores the ways in which traditional culture, its transformations, religious bans, and everyday norms may influence the suicide rates.