Marital status, alcohol abuse and attempted suicide: a logit model

Research on suicide and marital status has neglected the impact of alcohol abuse. Given that nonmarried people are more apt to abuse alcohol than married people, the often cited relationship between low marital integration and suicide may either be spurious, or it may involve a complicated interaction between the two variables. Married individuals consume less alcohol than unmarried individuals, but within marriage alcohol abuse does occur, and when it leads to family abuse it may trigger suicide. Also, over the life course individuals experience stressors (e.g., unemployment, illness) that may influence alcohol abuse and suicide. The present study explores the causal linkage between marital status, alcohol abuse and suicide at the micro level, employing data from the Epidemiological Catchment Area surveys. Logistic regression results indicate that marital status affects the odds of attempting suicide independent of indicators of alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse is, however, a better predictor of attempted suicide than marital status.