Interesting article released by UCSF, University of Oxford, and London school of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine commenting on the affects on mental health of the current economic climate and how employment can mitigate against these.
A rapid rise in unemployment can be linked to an increase in suicides, homicides, and alcohol abuse, but job programs can successfully mitigate these rates, according to a new study reported in the “Lancet” medical journal.
Study findings, published in the July 8, 2009 online issue, show that a rise of 3 percent in unemployment is associated with a 4.5 percent increase in suicides and a 28 percent increase in deaths from alcohol abuse in the population younger than age 65. Each percent increase in unemployment raised suicide rates by 0.8 percent and homicide rates by 0.8 percent, but a key government program may be effective at preventing these deaths, according to the research team.
The study was conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco; University of Oxford, and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
