Leenaars A A, Lester D
Leiden University, The Netherlands.
Crisis. 1998;19(2):73-7. doi: 10.1027/0227-5910.19.2.73.
The NASH categories (Natural, Accident, Suicide, Homicide) used on death certificates are known to obscure many of the psychological dimensions of death. Although there are many studies of death certificates of the extent to which suicide may be misclassified as accidental or natural deaths, and a few studies comparing individuals who commit suicides to accidental death victims, this topic is often neglected at a sociological level. This analysis of the NASH modes of death examines if these deaths differ from a sociological perspective. Specifically, rates of divorce, marriage, birth, and unemployment were correlated with deaths of natural causes (stomach cancer, cirrhosis of the liver), accidents (motor vehicle accident), suicide, and homicide. The results suggest that the sociological associations with some causes of death (i.e., cirrhosis of the liver, suicide and, homicide) have a similar social pattern but are different from others (i.e., motor vehicle accidents and stomach cancer). Although there are problems of interpretation at a sociological level, it is suggested that the social epidemiology of death may be obscured by the NASH classification. Recent suggestions on terminology and taxonomy by the International Academy for Suicide Research (IASR) are offered as one step towards addressing this issue.
死亡证明上使用的NASH类别（自然死亡、意外死亡、自杀、他杀）已知会掩盖死亡的许多心理层面。尽管有许多关于自杀在多大程度上可能被误分类为意外或自然死亡的死亡证明研究，也有一些将自杀者与意外死亡受害者进行比较的研究，但这个话题在社会学层面常常被忽视。对NASH死亡模式的这一分析考察了这些死亡从社会学角度是否存在差异。具体而言，离婚、结婚、生育和失业率与自然原因死亡（胃癌、肝硬化）、意外（机动车事故）、自杀和他杀相关。结果表明，与某些死因（即肝硬化、自杀和他杀）的社会学关联具有相似的社会模式，但与其他死因（即机动车事故和胃癌）不同。尽管在社会学层面存在解释问题，但有人认为NASH分类可能会掩盖死亡的社会流行病学情况。国际自杀研究学会（IASR）最近关于术语和分类法的建议被视为解决这一问题的第一步。
