Community Growth, Depressive Disorders, and Suicide

A study of the relationship of population growth to the frequency of hospitalized mental illness and suicide in fifty Massachusetts communities indicates that rapidly growing communities tend to produce significantly higher rates of hospitalized depressive disorders and suicide, but not of schizophrenia, alcoholism, or other mental disorders. Alternative explanations of the findings are that (1) the higher rates of depression and suicide are a factor of the social disorganization associated with rapid growth of small intimate communities and/or (2) these rates can be accounted for by selective migration of depression-prone individuals.