Firearm Suicide Among Older Adults: A Sociological Autopsy

Abstract

Background: Emile Durkheim (1897/1985) theorized that sociological variables (e.g., social, political, economic) are more helpful for understanding suicide than individual or psychological explanations. This study extends the previous sociological work on suicide by testing a theoretical model that includes economic, political, and social variables. The purpose of this study was the development and testing of a predictive model of firearm suicide among the general population and among older adults in the US.