Another Look at Status Integration and Suicide

A critical review of the theory of status integration considers methodological, procedural, and theoretical problems. First, difficulties in adhering to some of the test principles established by Gibbs and Martin seem to preclude a thorough test of the theory. Second, a number of unsolved practical problems arise when attempting to test the theory with available data: (a) the need to make post hoc explanations of aberrant findings, (b) numerous possibilities for spurious effects, (c) problems in defining categories such as age and occupation, (d) problems of matching the characteristics of suicides with those of populations, and (e) ambiguities beclouding the application of the rules for using the theory. Finally, a serious question is raised about the validity of the status integration measure as a criterion for Durkheim's concept of social integration.