210 HEREDITY AND SELECTION IN SOCIOLOGY 



above figures ? In the first place, it is not the married state, 

 fer se, which afiects the social rate of suicide. This is evident 

 if we bear in mind that the category of married men in general 

 has a suicide-rate of 980, which is practically the same as that 

 of bachelors of a corresponding average age. Further, the 

 number of suicides among widowers with children stands to 

 that among bachelors of the same average age as 100 : 160 ; 

 whereas the category of widowers without children has a co- 

 efficient of preservation of only 100 : 119, or 1-2. But married 

 men with children contribute only 336 suicides to the total 

 of 980 ; and the favourable position of this category is the more 

 remarkable if we consider that the average age of married men 

 with children must certainly be greater than that of married 

 men without children, for the reasons already set forth. Married 

 men without children have a coefficient of preservation, as against 

 bachelors of forty-two years, of only 1 -5 ; and this coefficient 

 must be diminished if we reflect that the average age of the 

 bachelors is higher than that of married men without children, 

 which we have reckoned as thirty-five years. Married men with 

 children, on the other hand, have a coefficient of preservation, as 

 against this category of bachelors, of 2'9, or practically twice as 

 great as that of married men without children. And the co- 

 efficient of preservation of married men with children, as against 

 married men without children, increases if we take into con- 

 sideration the difference in the average age of the two categories. 

 Finally, what seems to prove conclusively that marriage, per se, 

 does not afford any palpable protection against suicide is the 

 fact, already noticed, that the relative position of widowers 

 with children is better than that of married men without children. 

 But if this be the case, it will be said, how does family life 

 act as a determining factor of social integration ? The reply 

 is obvious : Through the children. The married man with 

 children has a home capable of influencing him in a far greater 

 degree than has the married man without children. The 



