title: Socio-Economic Position and Suicidal Ideation in Men.
abstract: People in low socio-economic positions are over-represented in suicide statistics and are at heightened risk for non-fatal suicidal thoughts and behaviours. Few studies have tried to tease out the relationship between individual-level and area-level socio-economic position, however. We used data fromTen to Men(the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health) to investigate the relationship between individual-level and area-level socio-economic position and suicidal thinking in 12,090 men. We used a measure of unemployment/employment and occupational skill level as our individual-level indicator of socio-economic position. We used the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage (a composite multidimensional construct created by the Australian Bureau of Statistics that combines information from a range of area-level variables, including the prevalence of unemployment and employment in low skilled occupations) as our area-level indicator. We assessed suicidal thinking using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). We found that even after controlling for common predictors of suicidal thinking; low individual-level and area-level socio-economic position heightened risk. Individual-level socio-economic position appeared to exert the greater influence of the two; however. There is an onus on policy makers and planners from within and outside the mental health sector to take individual- and area-level socio-economic position into account when they are developing strategic initiatives.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia. j.pirkis@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pirkis
authors.affiliation: Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia. dianne.currier@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Dianne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Currier
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia. peter.butterworth@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Butterworth
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia. alison.milner@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Milner
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia. a.kavanagh@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kavanagh
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia. holly.tibble@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Holly
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tibble
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia. jo.robinson@orygen.org.au.
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia. m.spittal@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Spittal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012923:Social Class; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D014478:Unemployment / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: disadvantage; socio-economic position; suicidal ideation