The Effect of Labor Force Participation on Female Suicide Rates: an Analysis of Individual Data From 16 States

Results of this study indicate that the suicide rates for employed, younger women are consistently lower than the suicide rates for women who are unemployed. The same trend is seen for middle aged women. For elderly women, the relationship reverses with women’s labor force participation(WLFP) being associated with relatively high suicide rates. Findings on young & middle aged women support a role accumulation model of WLPF, while findings on elderly women support status integration theory.