MEASURING SOCIAL INTEGRATION AND SOCIAL SUPPORT

With the point of departure in the classical theories of Emile Durkhei m on the importance of the relationship between the individual and her society, the concepts of social integration and social support, and t he theoretical framework behind an operationalization of the two are d iscussed. The paper then concentrates on measuring ''social support''. To illustrate the method, preliminary Danish data from an inter-Europ ean study on attempted suicide are used.