Weyerer S, Wiedenmann A
Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Federal Republic of Germany.
Psychol Rep. 1995 Jun;76(3 Pt 2):1331-41. doi: 10.2466/pr0.1995.76.3c.1331.
The potential consequence of economic stress most frequently cited in the literature of medical sociology is the increase in the rate of suicide, it probably being the most valid and reliable indicator of collective mental health. To assess the probability of such being the consequence of current economic realignment in the Federal Republic of Germany, we deemed it promising to evaluate the extent to and manner in which economic factors have to date affected the frequency of suicide in Germany. The current study analyzed the effects of four economic variables (growth of the economy, average real income, unemployment and frequency of bankruptcy) on the rates of suicide in Germany from 1881 to 1989. We set the commencement date of the period analyzed as early as possible to include long-term developments as well as the effects of different moderator variables. The annual fluctuations of all four variables, in conformity with our hypothesis, correlated both in the period preceding World War II as well as in the postwar period with those in the rates of suicide. The strongest correlations held for the rate of unemployment and for the frequency of bankruptcy in times of obvious social disintegration coupled with diminished state safeguards against unemployment. Our hypothesis that the effects of economic factors would more strongly influence the rates of suicide by men as opposed to women could not be corroborated.
医学社会学文献中最常提及的经济压力的潜在后果是自杀率上升，自杀率可能是集体心理健康最有效、最可靠的指标。为了评估这是否是德意志联邦共和国当前经济调整的后果，我们认为评估经济因素迄今为止对德国自杀频率的影响程度和方式很有前景。当前的研究分析了四个经济变量（经济增长、平均实际收入、失业率和破产频率）对1881年至1989年德国自杀率的影响。我们尽可能将分析期的开始日期设定得很早，以纳入长期发展以及不同调节变量的影响。符合我们假设的是，所有四个变量的年度波动在第二次世界大战前以及战后时期都与自杀率的波动相关。在明显的社会解体以及国家对失业的保障减少的时期，失业率和破产频率的相关性最强。我们关于经济因素对男性自杀率的影响比对女性自杀率的影响更大的假设未能得到证实。
