Dad's job Linked to Child Suicide
March 28, 2006(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Where a father works and what kind of job he has may make a difference in his children's risk for suicide, report the authors of a new study.
Research was conducted among about 30,000 men with a history of working in sawmills in British Columbia. Between 1985 and 2001, there were around 250 attempted or successful suicides among 20,000 offspring of the group. After adjusting the findings to take other factors influencing the suicides into account, results reveal men working in unskilled but demanding and stressful jobs were more likely to have children who had taken, or attempted to take, their own lives.
The findings hold particularly disturbing implications for boys because about three-quarters of the successful suicides occurred among males.
Study authors note other studies have linked adverse employment experiences to a range of adverse physical and mental health problems, including suicide. However, this is one of the first to look specifically at how these jobs might be impacting children.
"These results indicate that adverse work conditions for fathers experienced while their children are growing up may have serious psychological outcomes for these children," says researchers from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
SOURCE: BMC Public Health, published online March 26, 2006
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.