ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the effect of acculturative stress as a result of migration and the degree to which immigrant culture of origin will be able to resist the clash with the culture of the country of immigration. The clash between norms and values or pressures of the mainstream society and those of the native country of the immigrant may produce anomie and acculturative stress which in turn may lead to suicide. Social support provides the social bonds that attach the individual to common goals and shared values that allow the individual to share in the feelings, values, and energy of the 'collective conscience' of their society. The chapter analyses the official statistics of 1990 on suicide provided by the Israeli Ministry of Health. Several concepts may come to explain why Israeli born of Sepharadic background constitutes a high percentage of those committing suicide. The Sepharadim have been Israel's disenfranchised underclass.
