Suicide and unemployment in Italy: Description, analysis and interpretation of recent trends

Provides descriptive, longitudinal, and cross-sectional aggregate-level analyses and also trends in individual-level and population risks for suicide in relation to unemployment from 1977 to 1987. Evidence for an association between suicide and unemployment among women was not convincing. Individual-level analyses for each year confirmed that unemployed women were more likely to commit suicide than their employed counterparts, although the overall relative risk was low. Among men, the unemployment rate (UR) was positively correlated over time with the suicide rate (SR). However, change in the SR across 18 geographic regions of Italy was unrelated to change in the UR. Unemployment was also positively related to the SR among the employed and population attributable risk, but unrelated to the rate among the unemployed or the relative risk. Comparison of SRs among the employed and unemployed revealed an excess of suicide among the latter in each year. (PsycLIT Database Copyright 1993 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)