Caregiving as suicide prevention: an ecological 20-country study of the association between family caregiving, unemployment, and suicide in men

Chen, YY., Cai, Z., Chang, Q., etal. Caregiving as suicide prevention: an ecological 20-country study of associations between male family caregiving, unemployment, and suicide. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-021-02095-9

Commentary

This study investigated suicide rates among men. It is generally accepted that men are more vulnerable when it comes to suicide rates, explaining that it is often attributed to adversities in public life, such as unemployment. Based on the theory that such male suicide vulnerability is related to private life behaviors, particularly men's low involvement in family care, the study was investigating the link between family care, unemployment, and suicide in men.

The results showed that overall and gender-specific suicide rates were lower in countries where men reported more family care, and there was no association between higher unemployment and higher suicide rates among men. And in countries where men reported less family care, higher unemployment was associated with higher male suicide rates, regardless of the country's HDI. And since unemployment benefits are not associated with suicide rates, this explains why men's family care moderates the association between unemployment and suicide rates.

Thus, the finding of this study that higher levels of family care are associated with lower suicide mortality rates under conditions of high unemployment as one of the factors that contribute to lower suicide rates among men indicates the suicide prevention potential of family care for men.