Psychosocial Working Conditions and Suicide Ideation Evidence From a Cross-Sectional Survey of Working Australians

Objectives: This study examined the relationship between psychosocial working factors such as job control, job demands, job insecurity, supervisor support, and workplace bullying as risk factors for suicide ideation. Methods: We used a logistic analytic approach to assess risk factors for thoughts of suicide in a cross-sectional sample of working Australians. Potential predictors included psychosocial job stressors (described above); we also controlled for age, gender, occupational skill level, and psychological distress. Results: We found that workplace bullying or harassment was associated with 1.54 greater odds of suicide ideation (95% confidence interval 1.64 to 2.05) in the model including psychological distress. Results also suggest that higher job control and security were associated with lower odds of suicide ideation. Conclusions: These results suggest the need for organizational level intervention to address psychosocial job stressors, including bullying.