Marital Status and Suicide in the United States: A Special Test of the Status Integration Theory

Data on suicide by age, sex, and marital status in the U. S., 1959-61, are employed to test the theory of status integration. On the whole, the findings are consistent with the theory, but more so for males than females.Such differential results are analyzed in terms of four principles that stipulate "ideal" test conditions. These principles are not ad hoc explanations of negative findings, meaning that they can be generalized to all tests of the theory. Data are available for systematic application of three of the four principles, and that opportunity should be realized in future research.