Contenu du sommaire : Le suicide un siècle après Durkheim

Louis Chauvel : Standardization of the male suicide rate based on age : due to generation or recomposition of the life cycle ? In France, over the last twenty-five years, the trend in the age-based male suicide rate has undergone a number of important changes : in the past, the rate increased steadily with age, today, the rates for different age groups are similar; more precisely, for the under-40 age group the rate has increased, and for the 50-70 age group there has been a decrease. Two different statistical models give an illustration of this evolution. The first is a classical model where an attempt has been made to separate the effects of age, generation and period of time ; it leads to the conclusion that certain generations are more prone to suicide than others. The second model considers the recomposition of the life cycle (effect resulting from the interaction of age and period of time) as having a major effect, in other words, that age, young and old age, do not have the same meaning in relation to suicide in 1995 as they did in 1950. This study takes into account in particular the us and, more briefly, fifteen other countries. In fact, as both models correspond well to the figures provided, it is only by means of a sociological analysis of the situation, comparing examples from distinctive social areas, that one is more likely to find that when economic growth slackens there is a redistribution of social status based on age.

Philippe Besnard : Marriage and suicide : the theory on marital regulation according to Durkheim, a century later. The relation between the married state and suicide is a central part of a study by Durkheim, "Le suicide", published a century ago. The Durkheim theory on marital regulation suggests that marriage is profitable to 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 article is to test this theory using recent suicide figures in France. The variations in suicide figures in relation to the marital status and their evolution are related to the various indicators on marriage and its ups and downs over the last twenty five years. Despite some difficulty in fully testing Durkheim' s theories, occasionally due to lack of data, the results obtained globally confirm his theory.