Suicide Rates and Status Integration in America

Abstract

In order to better understand how educational attainment and marital status impact the likelihood of suicide among various age-sex-race/ethnic groups in America, Gibbs and Martin's theory of Status Integration is tested. The distribution of suicide rates from 1991–1994 in the United States for people of different status categories of age, gender, education, marital status, and race/ethnicity is compared to the distribution of the population in these same status categories. The distribution of suicide rates for the status configurations analyzed herein differ significantly from the population distribution for these same status configurations. Gibbs and Martin's theory accurately describes variation in suicide rates.

Keywords:

• education
• marital status
• status integration
• suicide

Notes

Note. An asterisk in the “χ²; D” row signifies that there is a significant association between the distribution of suicide and the distribution of the population for the given status configuration. Bolded figures indicate those status configurations at a higher risk of suicide.