Precarious employment and the risk of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts

Abstract Objective Although the effect of occupation or employment status on suicide risk is notable, there are few studies on the effect of precarious employment on suicide. We compared suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in precarious workers and their non-precarious counterparts using a repres...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Preventive medicine 2015-02, Vol.71, p.72-76
Main Authors: Min, Kyoung-Bok, Park, Shin-Goo, Hwang, Sang Hee, Min, Jin-Young
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Chronic Disease - epidemiology
Depression - epidemiology
Depression - psychology
Employment
Female
Health inequality
Health Surveys
Humans
Internal Medicine
Logistic Models
Male
Middle Aged
Occupational Exposure - adverse effects
Occupations - classification
Occupations - statistics & numerical data
Republic of Korea - epidemiology
Risk Factors
Self-destructive behaviors
Sex Distribution
Smoking - epidemiology
Socioeconomic disparity
Suicidal Ideation
Suicide, Attempted - psychology
Suicide, Attempted - statistics & numerical data
Young Adult
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Summary:Abstract Objective Although the effect of occupation or employment status on suicide risk is notable, there are few studies on the effect of precarious employment on suicide. We compared suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in precarious workers and their non-precarious counterparts using a representative sample from South Korea. Method The 2008 Korean Community Health Survey data were used for this study. Information was obtained on 52,161 participants (41,063 employees with non-precarious work and 11,098 employees with precarious work). The outcome of the logistic regression model was the presence of suicidal thoughts and attempts, and the independent variables were the demographics, socioeconomic status, and health status. Results Employees with precarious work were more likely to exhibit suicidal ideation (OR = 1.41; 95% CI, 1.28–1.55) and suicide attempts (OR = 1.52; 95% CI, 1.02–2.27) than employees with non-precarious work. After controlling for income and education (Model 2) depressive feelings (Model 6), compared with unadjusted model, remained significant but the odds ratio was largely attenuated, indicating a strong association between suicidal risk and socioeconomic and feelings of depression. Conclusion Precarious workers had a higher risk of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts than non-precarious workers. Our study suggests that precarious employment is an important risk for suicide.
ISSN:0091-7435
1096-0260
DOI:10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.12.017