The DOI matches its Crossref record; 32 of the 32 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Long-Term Unemployment and Suicide: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Open accessAbstract
PURPOSE: There have been a number of reviews on the association+ between unemployment and suicide, but none have investigated how this relationship is influenced by duration of unemployment. METHOD: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted of those studies that assessed duration of unemployment as a risk factor for suicide. Studies considered as eligible for inclusion were population-based cohort or case-control designs; population-based ecological designs, or hospital based clinical cohort or case-control designs published in the year 1980 or later. RESULTS: The review identified 16 eligible studies, out of a possible 10,358 articles resulting from a search of four databases: PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Scopus and Proquest. While all 16 studies measured unemployment duration in different ways, a common finding was that longer duration of unemployment was related to greater risk of suicide and suicide attempt. A random effects meta-analysis on a subsample of six cohort studies indicated that the pooled relative risk of suicide in relation to average follow-up time after unemployment was 1.70 (95% CI 1.22 to 2.18). However, results also suggested a possible habituation effect to unemployment over time, with the greatest risk of suicide occurring within five years of unemployment compared to the employed population (RR = 2.50, 95% CI 1.83 to 3.17). Relative risk appeared to decline in studies of those unemployed between 12 and 16 years compared to those currently employed (RR = 1.21, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.33). CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that long-term unemployment is associated with greater incidence of suicide. Results of the meta-analysis suggest that risk is greatest in the first five years, and persists at a lower but elevated level up to 16 years after unemployment. These findings are limited by the paucity of data on this topic.
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“Loss of work is associated with both physical and mental health problems [20–22] in addition to economic consequences”
From Measuring the Effect of the Early assessment Team (MEET) for patients referred to outpatient mental health care: a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial (2024) · cites this paper as [22]
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Unemployment impairs mental health: Meta-analyses
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Unemployment and suicide. Evidence for a causal association?
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The Impact of Unemployment on Health: A Review of the Evidence
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Tien, H. S., Li, T., Gu, J., & Wang, J. (2022) · Asia Pacific Career Development Journal Vol 1 No 1 · doi:10.68047/apcdj.v5n2.14128
Motilal, S., Gobin, R., Khan, R., Henry, P. A., & Maharaj, R. G. (2026) · The International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research · doi:10.7895/ijadr.637
Nyakundi, C. N., Munyua, P. J. K., & Chewen, B. J. (2026) · International Journal of Social Science and Human Research · doi:10.47191/ijsshr/v9-i9-67
Basumatary, J., Hassan, S. U., & Goyari, P. (2026) · Millennial Asia · doi:10.1177/09763996261481907
Risk factors and warning signs of suicidal behavior: A literature review
Jovčić, I., & Sredić, D. (2026) · Medicinska rec · doi:10.5937/medrec2601024j
Choi, Y.-C. (2026) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-10746095/v1
Son, J.-H., Kim, C.-G., Hong, J.-S., Oh, Y.-H., & Choi, J.-Y. (2026) · Healthcare · doi:10.3390/healthcare14203426
James, D., & Bright, A. T. (2026) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s00127-026-03246-6
Metadata
- Authors
- Milner, A., Page, A., & LaMontagne, A. D.
- Affiliations
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Milner, Allison
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2013-01-16
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e51333
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3547020
- OpenAlex
- W2085632436
- Cited by
- 407
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 36 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 39 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 6
- FWCI
- 3.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council
- National Health and Medical Research Council (546248)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Employment and Welfare Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Keywords
- long-term unemployment, suicide, suicide attempts, unemployment duration, suicide risk factors, habituation effect
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Risk Factors, Suicide, Suicide, Attempted, Time Factors, Unemployment
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