Abstract

Any sociological understanding of suicide is firmly rooted in the social objectivity of the phenomenon itself. Standing in sharp contrast with the dominant medical
paradigm, what sociology seeks is the historical personality of suicide as it mirrors our lived reality. The first task is to accurately describe the parameters of
the phenomenon in order to highlight what form it actually takes in society. Having made explicit and justified this approach, this thesis reviews, in a second step, the academic discussion on age, gender and suicide, since these practical features are central in qualifying contemporary suicide. Finally, through a careful examination of gender and age specific suicide rates and age specific suicide
sex ratios, the defining characteristics of our shared contemporary suicide regime are underscored. First, the data presented clearly supports the increasing sex differential in completed suicides in Canada. Second, the data presented underscores the changes which characterize the age distribution of suicide in Canada since the 1950’s which simultaneously involves an increase of suicide
rates in the younger age categories and a decrease of suicide rates in the later age categories. Thirdly, the data presented highlights the synchronicity of the
spread of the phenomenon of youth suicide across the Canadian provinces. Finally, the data presented illuminates a recognizable cohort effect within the wider phenomenon of the coming into being of youth suicide. This thesis does not set out to interpret the transformations which characterize our contemporary suicide regime, but instead seeks to underscore the precise modalities of these
changes.