AGE, GENDER, AND SUICIDE - A CROSS-NATIONAL ANALYSIS

Since the nineteenth century, social scientists have been unable to ex plain age and gender differentials in the risk of suicide. Almost univ ersally, men have a greater risk of suicide than women. Furthermore, i n economically developed countries, the risk tends to be highest for m en in old age and for women in middle age. Age patterns of suicide in some Third World countries are fundamentally different than this. I te st an interdisciplinary theory that focuses on role identities, econom ic development, and kinship institutions to account for these patterns .