Suicide, Status, and Mobility in Chicago

Data from a study of suicide in Cook County, Illinois, as well as supplementary sources, indicate weaknesses in Henry and Short's consideration of the relationship of social status to the suicide rate in Suicide and Homicide. Their hypothesis that “high-status categories will have higher suicide rates than low-status categories” is subjected to three basic criticisms: (1) members of high-status categories or persons who are relatively unrestrained do not have the highest suicide rates; (2) distinguishing status data into simply high and low categories obscures important relationships between social status and suicide rate; and (3) status-change is more highly related to suicide rates than is status position.