Someone asked me (in a reply to a comment redacted by a rabbit at their blog) about data on male suicide and divorce. It’s interesting. The Marriage/Divorce ratio is protective against suicide in general, even in Slovenia, which is not a rich country.
Though having psychiatrists around makes a difference: as does limiting alcoholism.
Among the socioeconomic factors, unemployment rate ranked as the most powerful predictor of suicide and an increase of one unit in the unemployment rate increased regional suicide rate by 2.21 (? = 2.21, 95% CI = 1.87- 2.54, P < 0.001). Marriage/divorce ratio was negatively related to the suicide rate and an increase of one unit in marriage/divorce ratio reduced regional suicide rate by 1.16 (? = -1.16, 95% CI = -2.20 to -0.13, P < 0.031). The most influential mental health service availability parameter was higher psychiatrist availability, which was negatively correlated with the suicide rate and reduced the regional suicide rate by 2.95 (? = -2.95, 95% CI = -4.60 to -1.31, P = 0.002). Another negatively correlated factor was antidepressant/anxiolytic ratio higher than 0.5, which reduced the regional suicide rate by 2.32 (? = -2.32, 95% CI = -3.75 to -0.89, P = 0.003). Among mental health disorders, only the prevalence of alcohol use disorders was significantly related to suicide rate and one unit increase in the prevalence of alcohol use disorders per 1000 inhabitants increased the regional suicide rate by 0.02 (? = 0.02, 95% CI = 0.01- 0.03, P = 0.008).
There is a paper behind a paywall that looks at the death rate by suicide and unexplained death in the former soviet block over time. I am editing down their table to show suicide and unexplained death. There is a correlation with divorce.
Predictors of male suicide and undetermined intent deaths (UD) cumulative rates, 13 countries, 1990–2008
Suicide and UD rate Model 1b
Std Coef Std Error
**Significance at a 95% level. ***significance at a 99% level. GP, general practitioner; PPP$, purchasing power parity; std coef, standardised coefficients; std error, standard error.
GPs (per 100,000) -0.07** 0.03
Pure alcohol (1per capita, 15 years +)
0.01 0.02
Unemployment (% of total labour force)
0.04** 0.02
Divorce (% of population) 0.11*** 0.03
GDP per capita (PPP$) -0.08** 0.03
Female labour force (% of women aged 15+)
0.07 0.04
Birth rate (per 1000 people) -0.15*** 0.03
Unemployment and divorce rates increase the rate of male suicide, birth rates decrease it, as does having a generally richer country and more access to basic medical care. But the correlation exists, at least in countries where people are not too scared of SJWs to ask the question.
