Fertility rates and suicide: time series and regional studies.

Abstract

O'Connell (1975) reported a negative association over time in the USA and in other nations of the world between the fertility rates of women and suicide rates. One of the explanations for this association lies in Durkheim's (1951) notion that social integration reduces the likelihood of egoistic suicide. High fertility rates mean more children who presumably increase the degree of social integration. Also, children do appear to reduce the risk of suicide among married individuals according to Dublin and Bunzel (1933). The present paper uses data from O'Connell (1975, p. 227) to examine the cross-sectional association between crude fertility rates and suicide rates in 16 western nations: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England and Wales, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA. We calcdated Pearson correlations for each of the nine time periods reported: 1921 to 1925, 1926 to 1930, etc. up to 1961 to 1965. All nine correlations between fertility rates and suicide rates were negative. The median correlation was -0.48 (range -0.19 to -0.68). O'Connell reported time-series analyses over varying periods of time for each country. We restricted the time period from 1921 to 1925 to 1961 to 1965 so that we could obtain a consistent data set for all the nations. Of the 16 Pearson correlations between fertility rates and suicide rates 14 were negative and two positive. The median correlation was -0.44 (range 0.81 to -0.87). Analyses of this cross-sectional data set indicate a moderate negative correlation between fertility rates and suicide rates over nations for most time periods of the present century and over time for most western nations. This provides strong support for the existence of such an association.