TESTING DURKHEIM THEORY OF SUICIDE - ADDITIONAL RESULTS FROM GERMANY

In a recent study of 14 European countries, Lester (1993), using infer ence statistical techniques, confirmed Durkheim's (1897) observation t hat lower birth rates were associated with higher suicide rates in 187 0 and 1980. Due to changes in national boundaries, Germany was exclude d from these analyses. Among the federal states of Germany, Bavaria mo st suitably lends itself to a study of the relationship between suicid e and familial integration over time. A long-term analysis of the year s between 1865 and 1980 reveals a prominent reciprocal relationship (r = -0.87; P < 0.001) between rates of suicide and birth in Bavaria. Ma rriage rates, on the other hand, correlate only minimally (r = -0.19 n s) with rates of suicide. Our results accord with Durkheim's view that unlike birth rates, higher marriage rates per se are only slightly as sociated with suicide rates.