FEMALE LABOR-FORCE PARTICIPATION AND SUICIDE

To test the role conflict and rot enhancement hypotheses, this paper e xamines the link between female labor force participation and suicide. Using a special tabulation of age/sex-specific suicide data for metro politan areas in the United States, we estimate separate multivariate regression models for women and men in 1970 and 1980. Our findings sho w that in 1970 the level of female labor force participation among mar ried women with small children is not related to the female suicide ra te but is related to the male suicide rate in a positive direction. By 1980 the relationship between female labor force participation and th e male and female suicide rate is negative, suggesting that the well-b eing of both men and women is enhanced by role accumulation among wome n. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.