Suicide and social integration. A pilot study of the integration levels in Norway and Denmark.

Abstract

A model for comparison of levels of social integration in each of the Nordic countries was developed from Durkheim's theories and then tested on Norwegian and Danish data to determine whether the difference in the frequency of suicide between Norway and Denmark could be "explained" by a corresponding difference in degree of social integration. The results confirmed Durkheim's theory in that the general level of social integration was found to be considerably lower in Denmark than in Norway. Danish middleaged women, whose rate of suicide is more than three times that of their Norwegian counterparts, were especially poorly integrated by comparison. Furthermore, the level of integration among young Norwegian men was found to be in marked decline and their suicide rate on the increase. The necessity of testing and refining the method is stressed.