Family Size, Depression and Parent Suicide Risk

Abstract

The research reported in this paper assessed if family size was one of the multiple etiologic factors of parent suicide risk. Durkheim's proposition was examined, that married men and women, and especially women, are protected agains suicide risk in direct proportion to the number of children they have. The sample consisted of 145 families, comprising 243 parents and 392 children under age 18, which form the subject of this study. A partial correlation approach was taken. Family size and density were significantly related to parent suicide potential. The effects of the family constellation factors of family size and density were sex-specific. For married women, and to a lesser extent for married men, suicide risk declined with the number of children and density. Sibling spacing proved not significant in predicting parent suicide potential. The findings were discussed in terms of the social integration hypothesis, marital status, sex roles, and depression.