Introduction. Suicide is a multidimensional problem. Observations of family history of suicide suggest the existence of a genetic vulnerability to suicidal behaviour.
Aim. Starting with a historical ...perspective, the article reviews current knowledge of a genetic vulnerability to suicidal behaviour, distinct from the genetic vulnerability to psychiatric disorders, focused on clinical and population-based studies, and findings from recent molecular genetics association studies.
Method. The review includes peer-reviewed research articles and review papers from the professional literature in English language, retrieved from PubMed/Medline and PsycINFO.
Results. The research literature confirms a existence of a genetic vulnerability to suicidal behaviour. Even though the results of individual studies are difficult to compare, genetic influences could explain up to half of the variance of the occurrence of suicide.
Conclusion. Genetic vulnerability could be a distal risk factor for suicide, which helps us to understand the occurrence of suicide among vulnerable people. Ethical implications of such vulnerability are highlighted.
Uvod. Samomor je večrazsežnostni problem. S študijami družinskih anamnez samomorilnega vedenja je bilo ugotovljeno, da bi genetska komponenta lahko vplivala na občutljivost za samomorilno vedenje.
Namen. Članek skozi zgodovinski vidik proučuje današnje poznavanje genetske ranljivosti za samomorilno vedenje, ki se razlikuje od genetske ranljivosti za psihiatrične motnje v kliničnih in populacijskih študijah ter prikazuje ugotovitve zadnjih študij molekularno genetskih raziskav.
Metoda. Strokovni pregled vključuje raziskovalne članke in poročila iz strokovne literature v angleškem jeziku, pridobljene iz PubMed/Medine in PsycINFO.
Rezultati. Pregled obstoječe strokovne literature kaže na prisotnost genetske komponente kot dejavnika tveganja za samomorilno vedenje. Čeprav je rezultate posameznih študij težko primerjati, pa lahko genetski vplivi pojasnijo tudi do polovico različnih pojavov samomorilnega vedenja.
Zaključek. Genetska ranljivost bi lahko bila distalni dejavnik tveganja za samomor, kar nam pomaga razumeti pojav samomora med osebami s tveganjem za samomorilno vedenje. S tega pogleda so zajeta tudi etična vprašanja.
In Slovenia, quite a few researchers have studied fertility and suicide, but rarely have the connections between both phenomena been made. The author aims to overcome simplified explanations of ...falling fertility and rising suicide rates by studying population dynamics as a socially relevant issue both at the Slovenian as well as the global level. She studies fertility and suicide by focusing on the historical development of population issues, recent theoretical population analyses and demographic statistics. Fertility and suicide are analysed from the viewpoint of approaches developed in the social sciences and humanities. In the second part of the monograph, these approaches are applied to fertility and suicide trends in Slovenia and press media reports on both issues.By providing an overview of the history of studying fertility and suicide in Slovenia and abroad, the author has concluded that most approaches to fertility and suicide are grounded on the premises of the modernisation theory. Nevertheless, she was not discouraged to study alternative approaches to fertility and suicide that, according to researchers in the humanities, do not necessarily have a lower explanatory potential.
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