War, peace and suicide

The case of Northern Ireland

Bibliographic Data

ID2355243
AuthorsMichael W Tomlinson (Queen’s University Belfast, NORTHERN IRELAND, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume27
Issue4
Pages464-482
Publication date2012-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0268-5809 • E-ISSN: 1461-7242
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0268580912443579
OpenAlexW2120845510
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited40

Durkheim's idea that war reduces suicide through greater social and political integration has been used to explain suicide trends during the Northern Ireland conflict and in the period of peace. In this article the applicability of Durkheim is critically evaluated through a case study of suicide trends by age, gender and cause of death over a 40-year period. The key finding is that the cohort of children and young people who grew up in the worst years of violence, during the 1970s, have the highest and most rapidly increasing suicide rates, and account for the steep upward trend in suicide following the 1998 Agreement. Contrary to Durkheim, the recent rise in suicide involves a complex of social and psychological factors. These include the growth in social isolation, poor mental health arising from the experience of conflict, and the greater political stability of the past decade. The transition to peace means that externalized aggression is no longer socially approved. It becomes internalized instead

Aggression · Criminology · Medical emergency · Mental health · Poison control · Political science · Political violence · Politics · Psychiatry · Social isolation · Sociology · Suicide prevention · Employment and Welfare Studies · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Health disparities and outcomes · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology

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