The Association between Unemployment and Suicidal Ideation by Gender - Using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009 -

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examined the association between unemployment and suicidal ideation in Korea. Methods: We analyzed data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES) IV, conducted in 2009. Statistical analysis methods used in this study were χ 2 -test, Hierarchial logistic regression analysis and other basic statistics using SPSS version 19.0. Results: The suicidal ideation of unemployment workers was 24.7% in male and 35.9% in female. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and health-related characteristics, the risk for suicidal ideation of unemployment workers was significantly higher than employment workers. In men, the OR for suicidal ideation of the employed workers compared with the employed was 2.13, and in women, the OR was 1.31. Conclusions: The findings suggest the impact of unemployment status on suicidal ideation and the need for further prospective investigation that lead to interventions should be required to introduce of suicide prevention program for unemployment worker.