The Relationship of Female Labor Force Participation to Suicide: a Comparative Analysis

The relationship between female labour force participation & suicide was studied with data from 53 nations. Female labour force participation, an index of role conflict, was found to be positively related to both male & female suicide. However, when the sample was restricted to nations with high levels of female labour force participation, female labour force participation was related only to male suicide. This finding is interpreted in terms of role expansion theory among other factors.