Role Interference: An Analysis of Suicide Victims, Homicide Offenders, and Non-Violent Individuals

Examines the hypotheses that high degrees of role intereference (where enactment of some roles impedes enactment of others) generates outwardly directed violence, whereas low degrees of role interference generates self-deprecation & suicide. Life histories of 98 male completed suicides, 62 males convicted of homicide & 76 male psychiatric patients were studied. Homicide offenders had higher role interference than the other 2 samples, & suicide victims tended to have less role interference. (RM)