Citation

Milner A, Currier D, Lamontagne AD, Spittal MJ, Pirkis J. Public Health 2017; 147: 72-76.

Affiliation

Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.puhe.2017.02.003

PMID

28404500

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Psychosocial job stressors are known to be associated with poor mental health. This research seeks to assess the relationship between psychosocial working conditions and suicidal ideation using a large dataset of Australian males. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.

METHODS: Data from wave 1 of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health (Ten to Men) was used to assess the association between suicidal ideation in the past two weeks and psychosocial working conditions using logistic regression. The sample included 11,052 working males. The exposures included self-reported low job control, high job demands, job insecurity and low fairness of pay. We controlled for relevant confounders.

RESULTS: In multivariable analysis, persons who were exposed to low job control (odds ratio [OR] 1.15, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05-1.26, P = 0.003), job insecurity (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.44-1.99, P < 0.001) and unfair pay (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.11-1.27, P < 0.001) reported elevated odds of thoughts about suicide. Males employed casually or on fixed-term contracts reported higher odds of suicidal ideation (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.09-1.61, P = 0.005).

CONCLUSION: Psychosocial job stressors are highly prevalent in the working population and workplace suicide prevention efforts should aim to address these as possible risk factors.

Copyright © 2017 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Job stress; Suicidal ideation; Suicide; Working conditions