Broken homes among attempted suicides and psychiatric out-patients: A comparative study

Abstract

Many investigators have pointed out the social and psychological meanings of broken homes and their effects on individuals' behaviour. Goldfarb (3) stressed the importance of normal parental relationships both in ego formation and in the transfer of ego functions from parent to child. Thompson (16) maintains that the loss of a familiar perceptual framework may be as equally important as the loss of a love-object. Bowlby (2) points out that love deprivation and superficial relationships frequently lead to maladjustment and delinquency. Kardiner (4) emphasizes the importance of the social and cultural values of tender emotion as the basis of social cohesion and culture. Several research workers have found high incidences of broken homes among schizophrenics (Pollack et al., 10; Lidz, 5; Oltman et al., 8) and among neurotics (Madow and Hardy, 6; McGregor, 7). Other research workers have been concerned with the incidence of broken homes among individuals who attempt suicide (Palmer, 9; Reitman, 11; Sainsbury, 12; Batchelor and Napier, 1; Stengel and Cook, 14; Walton, 18; Teichner, 15; Toolan, 17; Simon, 13). However, the majority of the latter group of studies have lacked comparative control groups. The present study investigates several factors of social disorganization which distinguish a group of attempted suicides with a history of broken homes from a group of psychiatric out-patients who have not attempted suicide but have a history of broken homes. All comparisons will be between attempted suicides and psychiatric out-patients from broken homes.

Comparative Study of Attempted Suicides and Psychiatric Out-patients

“…In findings reported elsewhere it was pointed out that two-thirds of this group also came from broken homes (Bruhn, 1962). Thus, it seems that coming from a broken home is not in itself so significant as the repetition of a similar disorganizing event later in life.…”

“…Although the broken home is important, it is only one of a constellation of aetiological factors contributing to attempted suicide. In a recent study regarding broken homes among attempted suicides it was found that the broken home becomes causally significant only when other indications of social disorganization are also found (Bruhn, 1962).…”

Age, Unemployment and Parasuicide in Leeds

“…Lendrum (1933) found 22.6% of attempted suicides were unemployed compared with 12.2 % in the local population. Bruhn (1962), in Edinburgh, reports that 43 % of parasuicides were unemployed compared with 17 % among a control group of nonparasuicidal psychiatric out-patients, and less than 4% for the general population of the city.…”

Suicidal Behaviour: An Attempt to Modify the Environment

“…(5) The number of children in the 1971 group was small according to Ulster standards, and was smaller than in women investigated in our other studies. (6) In both groups between one half and two thirds of patients were admitted to the hospital for the first time. (7) There was no significant difference be tween the two groups in respect of the number of their suicidal attempts.…”

“…Comparing a group of 91 patients who attempted suicide with a group of matched psychiatric patients who had not attempted suicide, Bruhn [1962] found the prevalence of the following factors in the sui cidal group: (a) residential mobility, (b) brief stay at the current address, (c) household instability, and (d) marital disharmony. All these factors were very much in evidence in both our groups of patients.…”