Unravelling the threads: understanding the interplay of Cultural values, female workforce engagement, human development index and suicide rates

Suicide is a major public health problem across the world. Extensive research on the field shows that suicide is affected by several sociological, economic, and cultural risk factors. Over the last century, social changes have driven the reshaping of traditional gender roles, often in an uneven fashion, strongly depending on context. This study proposes updated findings on the impact that changes in traditional gender roles could have on suicide rates

It will do so by examining the correlation between female labor force participation (FLPR) and sex-specific suicide rates. Moreover, it will examine this association depending on human development (HDI) and Hofstede’s individualism index. To do so, data from 2010 to 2019 from 47 countries is collected from the WHO, ILOSTAT and UN agencies’ websites.

Analysis show a significant interaction between FLPR, HDI and individualism index scores on male suicide rates (p = 0.002). There is a negative association between FLPR and male suicide rates in relatively lower HDI countries, while in very high HDI countries an increase in FLPR is correlated with an increase in male suicide rates. Similar trends but no significant interaction is observed for female suicide rates.

This study suggests that female participation is beneficial for male population as it reduces male suicide rates. However, this association appears to be context dependent. In countries where institutional adjustment is already established, and human development is very high, other factors might be of interest in examining the trends of suicide rates among men and women.