War, peace and suicide: The case of Northern Ireland

Abstract

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.