ELEVATED SUICIDE RATES ON THE FIRST WORKDAY: A REPLICATION IN ISRAEL

This study verified variations in suicide rates throughout the days of the week among Israel Defense Force soldiers during 1974 - 2001. Results confirmed the findings of most previous studies.The first workday was associated with a 60% increase in suicide rate among young men.This increase was not observed among female reserve or professional soldiers.This finding might indicate a particular susceptibility of men to contextual and situational factors.The explanation of the increased suicide risk on the first workday stresses such processes as the broken-promise effect as well as difficulty in facing the demands of service and transitions from the weekend to the workweek.