[Suicide in old age - a sociological view (author's transl)]

In the FRG about 3,500 old people commit suicide p.a. Motivations for suicide in old age have hardly been studied sufficiently. Especially the social situation of old people in old age is a cluster of causative phenomena that has been paid too little attention. The numerous social reorganisations in old age require a remarkable adaptability to the altered social status and the new conditions of living. Suicide in old age is discussed as a consequence of unsatisfactory adaptation to the social role in old age.