Generational variations in wellbeing
Suicide rates, cohort characteristics, and national socio-political context over seven decades
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10530890 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J Stockard (0000-0001-6134-7233, Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management , 1209 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1209, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 104 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 341-365 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-19 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Forces (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0037-7732 • E-ISSN: 1534-7605 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/sf/soaf019 |
| OpenAlex | W4407081453 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 72 |
Over recent decades, the relative wellbeing of younger birth cohorts declined in many western countries, indicating growing generational inequality. Building on Durkheimian theory, this paper examines explanations for these changes, hypothesizing that differences in cohort wellbeing are related to variations in social integration associated with birth cohorts and national socio-political contexts. Age–period-specific suicide rates of men and women from 1950 to 2020 in 19 highly developed western nations, including 26 birth cohorts, born from 1875 to 2004, are examined using estimable function analysis and age–period–cohort characteristic (APCC) models. Cohort variations in wellbeing are significantly greater in English-speaking nations, which have traditionally provided less institutionalized support and social integration than continental European nations. Age-specific suicide rates are larger for cohorts with childhood demographic characteristics associated with less social integration (relative cohort size and family structure). Major historical events associated with social integration in formative years of late adolescence and young adulthood also influence cohort wellbeing, with higher age-specific rates for cohorts experiencing the Great Depression of the 1930s and health pandemics of the early 20th and 21st centuries and lower rates for those experiencing periods of war and national conflict. However, the magnitude of these associations is strongly influenced by socio-political context. Negative effects of cohort characteristics are muted and positive effects are enhanced in the continental nations. In addition, patterns of associations vary by age and gender. Results remain with strong controls for the pace of change, additional measures of national context, and sensitivity analyses
Cohort · Cohort effect · Context (archaeology · Geography · Population · Sociology · Demography · Employment and Welfare Studies · Health disparities and outcomes · Medicine · Psychology · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
Suicide trends in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic
The public health effect of economic crises and alternative policy responses in Europe
The Next Generation of the Penn World Table
Estimable intra-age, intra-period, and intra-cohort effects in age-period-cohort multiple classification models
The Crisis for Young People
Employment status, inflation and suicidal behaviour
Generational Inequalities and Welfare Regimes
More than just Welfare Transfers? A Review of the Scope of Esping-Andersen's Welfare Regime Typology
Social distancing and influenza mortality in 1918 did not increase suicide rates in the United States
Changes in Scottish suicide rates during the Second World War
Investigating the Rise (and Fall) of Young Black Male Suicide in the United States, 1982–2001
Cohort Differences in Physical Health and Disability in the United States and Europe
Children and the elderly
Cohort size and age-specific suicide rates
Explaining Suicide Among Blacks and Whites
Adult Suicide Mortality in the United States
Cohort Variations and Changes in Age-Specific Suicide Rates over Time
Cohort Variations in Suicide Rates among Families of Nations
Generational differences in mental health
Child and Youth Well-Being in the United States, 1975–1998
Cohort Effects on Suicide Rates
Time Period and Birth Cohort Differences in Depressive Symptoms in the U.S., 1982–2013
National Context, Social Change, and Sex Differences in Suicide Rates
Suicide and the Great Recession of 2007–2009
Essays Sociology Knowledge V 5
Families of nations and public policy
Comparing Iraq to Vietnam
Generational Memory and the Critical Period
Dimensionalizing Cultures
Generations and Collective Memories
Relative Cohort Size and Fertility
Divorce Rate Fluctuation as a Cohort Phenomenon
A changing epidemiology of suicide? The influence of birth cohorts on suicide rates in the United States
From social integration to health
Social Control and Youth Suicidality
Modernization, Cultural Change, and the Persistence of Traditional Values
The origins of a New Zealand suicidal cohort
Determinants of Youth Suicide
Political Integration and the Effect of War on Suicide
A Common Explanation for the Changing Age Distributions of Suicide and Homicide in the United States, 1930 to 2000
Deindustrialization, Disadvantage and Suicide among Young Black Males
Age Patterns of Suicide and Homicide Mortality Rates in High-Income Nations
Collective Efficacy, Family Attachment, and Urban Adolescent Suicide Attempts
Mapping Global Values
Family and Household Formations and Suicide in the United States
Nonmarital Fertility and the Effects of Divorce Rates on Youth Suicide Rates
Vote Turnout of Nineteenth Amendment Women
Marital Status and Suicide in the United States
Youth as a Force in the Modern World
Age Period Cohort Characteristic Models
Trends in White Male Adolescent, Young-Adult, and Elderly Suicide
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |