Although this book has an extremely inviting and catchy title, it is unfortunately trivial, outdated, and omits almost an entire literature concerning recent advances and knowledge in the areas of adolescence and suicide. The author, a French psychiatrist, died in 1969, and this translation by A. M. Sheridan was published in 1974. The bibliography, listed as notes, terminates in 1968, although the essential references are much earlier than this, weighted by the writings of Durkheim and Freud. The orientation of the author is predominantly sociological. The numerous apologia for lack of space or research data do not support the claim that the book is "of great theoretical and practical importance."
The book is organized into four parts: the notions of suicide and adolescence; the attitudes of adults to adolescent suicide; the causes of suicide; and hypotheses and conclusion.
The author provides extensive numerical data and appropriately concludes "that they