MARRIAGE AND SUICIDE - THE THEORY ON MARI TAL REGULATION ACCORDING TODURKHEIM, A CENTURY LATER

The relation between the married state and suicide is a central part o f a study by Durkheim, Le suicide, published a century ago. The Durkhe im theory on marital regulation suggests that marriage is profitable t o men, not to women. Therefore the weakening of the marital bond when comparing with single people, should be to the disadvantage of married men but to the advantage of married women. The objective of this arti cle is to test this theory using recent suicide figures in France. The variations in suicide figures in relation to the marital status and t heir evolution are related to the various indicators on marriage and i ts ups and downs over the last twenty five years. Despite some difficu lty in fully testing Durkheim's theories, occasionally due to lack of data, the results obtained globally confirm his theory.