Although the suicide rates of people over 60 continue to be consistently higher than those of younger age groups, relatively little research has scrutinized the phenomenon of geriatric suicide. Recent research is summarized and reviewed. Suggestions are offered for the direction and scope of future research. (Author)

This essay interprets the dynamics of suicide based on a view of life as an autonomous process of the unfolding of genetically determined potential. The life process does not require external incentives; it depends, however, on needs-satisfying exchanges between individuals and their physical and social environment. Social orders of human groups…