Social factors and suicide Epidemiological studies reveal definite consistencies in suicide rates in certain social groups; statistics regularly show that suicide is largely a problem of later life, that it is an increasing one, and that it is related to social factors. There is evidence that social isolation, retirement, lack of employment, and loss of status in society are important in the elderly suicide. Factors in the individual: Depression is more closely associated with suicide in old age than in youth; but suicides and depressives are two distinct populations. Other disorders which may precede suicide in the aged are the organic psychoses. Critical situations which predispose to suicide in later life include physical illness and bereavement. These observations provide a basis for planning the prevention of suicide in the aged.