Zhang Jie, professor of sociology and director of the Center for China Studies at Buffalo State, received a three-year, $1.1 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to conduct his second major study of suicide in rural China. His first study, which was funded by the NIMH for more than $1 million, ended in 2009.

His earlier research postulated that the cause of suicide is psychological strain. To test his theory, he led a team of researchers who conducted psychological autopsies of 392 Chinese suicide victims. Those autopsies involved interviewing close family and friends of the victims.

Zhang found that psychological strains were significantly associated with suicide, even after accounting for the role of mental illness. Zhang suggests that the strain theory of suicide forms a challenge to Western understanding of suicide, which uses a psychiatric model that emphasizes individual mental illness.

“Strain is the result of two stressors,” Zhang said. His research focuses on four kinds of strain: conflicting values, reality versus aspiration, relative deprivation, and deficient coping skills.

In each case, the strain results from a person holding two dissonant beliefs. For example, to explain conflicting values, Zhang cited the example of young women in rural China who are raised according to Confucian principles, which hold that women are inferior to men. The same young women are educated in schools that view men and women as equal. “If a woman rejects one idea or the other,” said Zhang, “she does not experience strain. However, if she believes in both, strain results.”

For the forthcoming study, Zhang will train young scholars from Chinese universities to conduct research in hospitals in three provinces in rural China. “Each hospital in these provinces admits about 100 people every year who have attempted suicide,” said Zhang. Researchers will interview 800 people who have made a serious suicide attempt.

Suicide in China has drawn attention in part because China’s vast population means that even a moderate rate of suicide yields a high number—more than 250,000 a year. Also, suicide patterns differ from those in the West, with more Chinese women than men completing suicide. In most countries, the suicide completion rate is higher among men.

Zhang, who was born in Shandong, China, maintains a close connection with his native country. He founded the Center for China Studies at Buffalo State to promote collaboration between Chinese and American scholars. In 2005, he received the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service, recognizing the international service he has rendered by creating many opportunities for shared scholarly research between American and Chinese scholars.