This study “updates” one done by Sainsbury, Jenkins & Levey in 1980 which related suicide rates in Europe with 15 social variables, such as marriage and unemployment. In this study, the authors found that changes in suicide rates could be attributed to changes in the social environment. However, in Makinen’s study, none of the 9 original significant correlations were repeated, and two of these correlations actually changed signs. Explanations as to why this is so are suggested. (15 refs.)