This is a summarized study of the main & interactive effects of marital status, race (black & white) & sex on the timing of suicide across the adult life course using official data from North Carolina for 1980-84. Overall, adult suicide victims are predominantly white, male & married, but there are notable exceptions, e.g. midlife suicides are more likely to be white & unmarried; compared to married men, married women are more likely to commit suicide in midlife than in later years. (GW)