The Quiet Revolution and the Sex Differential in Quebec's Suicide Rates: 1931-1986

Abstract

In the context of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec during the late 1950s, this article devotes specific attention to the widening sex differential in suicide rates from 1931 to 1986. We reconceptualize sex roles and suicide in the context of modernization theory and then consider the Quebec case. We argue that the differential can be explained by the presence of varied integrating and regulating structures in society for men and women. Natural differences between the sexes are unimportant in explaining the lower suicide propensities of women than of men. We also challenge the view that the role expansion of women will necessarily lead to a convergence in male and female suicide rates. The results of this analysis are consistent with the hypothesis that insofar as suicide rates can be considered a manifestation of differences in psychiatric pathology between the sexes, modernization in Quebec has been more detrimental to men than to women. We conclude that the breakdown in traditional forms of social integration and regulation in Quebec will continue to engender a widening of the sex differential in suicide risk.