FAMILY AND MARRIAGE AS PROTECTION DURKHEI M THEORIES IN VIEW OF LATERRESEARCH

The article discusses the relationship between Durkheim's theories and contemporary research on the effects of marriage and family on suicid e risks, health, and well-being. It is shown that Durkheim's theories seem to have bad little direct impact on contemporary work in this are a. In particular, his theory of marriage as protection against sexual anomie has largely been neglected. Next, the power of Durkheim's theor ies in explaining contemporary empirical findings on the relationships between marriage and family, on the one hand, and suicide, health, an d well-being, on the other, is discussed. The relationship between mar ital status and suicide or well-being now seems to be very similar for both men and women. Although different from Durkheim's findings, this is easily accounted for within a Durkheimian perspective. As hypothes ized by Durkheim, a recent study also provides strong evidence that wo men with children have much lower suicide rates than women without chi ldren. The major problem for Durkheim's theories is that dramatic incr eases in divorce rates have not been accompanied by a weakening of the association between marital status and suicide or well-being. It is p ossible, however, that a weakening of the effects of marriage due to i ncreased opportunities for divorce has been counterbalanced by other s ocial changes that have served to strengthen the effects of marriage.