Is unemployment less important than expected for suicide attempted in developing regions? Occupational profile of suicide attempts in Jujuy, north westernmost Argentina

Abstract

Background: Mental health practices consider unemployment as a suicide main risk factor, based on models built for populations of developed countries. Aim: This study assesses the association between the occupational risk factor and suicidal behaviors, by considering sex, age and temporal distribution, in a Latin American Andean population from north westernmost Argentina. Methods: Data include 481 suicide attempt cases assisted by emergency service psychologists at a head hospital in the Jujuy Province, northern Argentina, during two biennials. General categories and specific types of occupational situation, sex, age and temporal distribution were analyzed. Results: 83.58% of cases corresponded to the with occupation category, but without occupation characterized male cases ( p-value = .01). The type no referred occupation (19.15%) mainly contributed to this association ( p-value = .02). Unemployed only represented 1.6%. These features revealed independent from the biennial period of assistance ( p-value = .96 (general), p-value = .86 (specific)). Associations by age ranges did not seem to be specific of suicidal attempts. Conclusion: The present contribution provides an occupational characterization of suicide attempts in an Andean population from north westernmost Argentina. Unemployment is not associated with suicidal behavior in this population, suggesting that dissimilar patterns underlie suicidal behavior of populations from developed and developing regions.

An investigation into the association between suicide mortality rate and lithium levels in potable water: a review study

“…One study reported a significant positive relationship between rainfall values and suicide rates among females in Taiwan (Tsai, 2010). In a study, López Steinmetz et al (2020) reported that unemployment is not associated with suicidal behavior in Andean populations in north westernmost Argentina (López Steinmetz et al , 2020). A study by López Steinmetz et al (2020) on the suicide mortality rates for a period from 2003 to 2013 in rural regions of Argentinean Andes showed that lithium (and not altitude) was positively correlated with suicide mortality (Steinmetz et al , 2021); however, according to another study, lithium would be negatively related to suicide rates in low-altitude areas, whereas it would be positively associated with high altitude (Helbich et al , 2013).…”

Altitude and latitude variations in trait-impulsivity, depression, anxiety, suicidal risk, and negative alcohol-related consequences in Argentinean adolescents

“…However, most of the studies supporting such results have been conducted in developed countries. In this regard, it is important to bear in mind that we have previously discussed on dissimilar patterns existing in mental health-related problems between populations from developed and developing countries ( López Steinmetz, 2015 , 2017b ; López Steinmetz et al., 2019 ). For instance, we have demonstrated that there are no sex differences in suicide attempters from the north westernmost of Argentina ( López Steinmetz, 2017a ).…”