Employment status and bereavement after parental suicide: a population representative cohort study

Abstract

ObjectivesTo examine employment status among adults bereaved by parental suicide at the time of bereavement and 2 and 5 years after the loss and to explore the importance of the gender of the adult child and the deceased parent.DesignPopulation-based register study.SettingNorwegian population-based registries linked using unique personal identifiers.ParticipantsNorwegian residents aged 25–49 years in the period 2000–2014. Participants were divided into three groups: bereaved by parental suicide, bereaved by parental death of other causes and non-bereaved population controls.Main outcome measuresORs for the risk of non-employment at the time of bereavement and 2 and 5 years after the loss.ResultsThose bereaved by parental suicide had a higher risk of non-employment already at the time of bereavement (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.23). Stratified analyses showed that women accounted for this difference (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.33), while no difference was found for men (OR 1.00, 95% CI 0.88 to 1.13). Looking at the gender of the parent, there was only a significant association of non-employment when losing a mother (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.42), while not for losing a father (OR 1.09, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.20). Among those working at the time of bereavement, offspring bereaved by suicide were more likely to be non-employed at both 2 (OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.30) and 5 (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.40) years after the loss compared with the general population.ConclusionsWomen bereaved by parental suicide and those losing a mother to suicide were found to have a weaker attachment to the labour market already before losing their parent. Those who were employed when bereaved by suicide were somewhat more likely to be non-employed 5 years after the event.

Impacts of suicide bereavement on men: a systematic review

“…Two studies sampled only suicide decedents, with sizes ranging from 9011 ( 47 ) to 29,513 ( 48 ). Of the studies reporting gender distribution, most ( n = 17) had fewer than half male participants ( 42 , 47 , 49 , 50 , 52 , 54 , 55 , 59–66 , 70 , 71 ) with only seven having gender parity or being predominantly male ( 46 , 48 , 51 , 56 , 67–69 ). Participant relationships to the deceased varied ( Table 2 ).…”

“…All included quantitative studies ( n = 25) were non-experimental with half ( n = 13) employing a cross-sectional design that either exclusively surveyed individuals bereaved by suicide ( 42 , 52 , 54 , 59 , 60 , 62 , 64 , 77 ) or included individuals not bereaved by suicide ( 49 , 63 , 66 , 69 , 71 ). Eight quantitative studies used a cohort study design ( 46 , 50 , 51 , 55 , 65 , 68 , 70 , 72 ), with an additional two studies using a nested case–control design ( 47 , 48 ). Two quantitative studies used a case–control design ( 56 , 67 ).…”

“…The details of the assessment are presented in Supplementary Tables 5 , 6 . Most qualitative studies ( n = 17) were of high quality, achieving a star rating of 4–5 ( 46–51 , 55 , 56 , 62 , 63 , 66 , 68–72 , 77 ). Those that achieved a star rating of 2–3 largely scored poorly on domains relating to representativeness and accounting for confounders in design and analysis ( 52 , 54 , 59 , 60 , 67 ).…”

“…A Norwegian population registry-based study found no difference in odds of unemployment between men bereaved by parental suicide and non-bereaved men ( 55 ). Conversely, Erlangsen and colleagues noted that Danish men bereaved by a partner’s suicide had higher rates of unemployment and extended sick leave than non-bereaved men ( 46 ).…”