Department of Public Health Sciences, Centre for Health Equity Studies, Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet, Sveavägen 160, Sveaplan, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden. andrea.dunlavy@su.se.
Prior research has documented an association between unemployment and elevated suicide risk. Yet, few Swedish studies have explicitly considered how such risk may vary by different migration background characteristics among persons of foreign-origin, who often experience diverse forms of labor market marginalization. This study examines the extent to which unemployment status may differentially influence suicide risk among the foreign-origin by generational status, region of origin, age at arrival, and duration of residence.
Population-based registers were used to conduct a longitudinal, open cohort study of native-origin and foreign-origin Swedish residents of working age (25-64 years) from 1993 to 2008. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for suicide mortality were estimated using gender-stratified Cox proportional hazards models.
Elevated suicide risk observed among foreign-origin unemployed groups was generally of a similar or lower magnitude than that found in unemployed native-origin, although unemployed second-generation Swedish men demonstrated significantly greater (p?