Married Female Labor Force Participation and Suicide in Canada, 1971 and 1981

Author(s): Frank Trovato and Rita Vos

Source: Sociological Forum, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Dec., 1992), pp. 661-677
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Sociological Forum, Vol. 7, No. 4, 1992
Married Female Labor Force Participation and
Suicide in Canada, 1971 and 1981
Frank Trovato1 and Rita Vos1
The cultural context
affects
the relationship between women's involvement in
the labor force and the odds of suicide for both men and women. In this
study, we e-xamine this
relationship
in Canada in 1971 and then again in 1981,
when cultural conditions were significantly different. Two hypotheses are
evaluated: (1) in 1971 the effects of maried female labor force participation
increase suicide risk for both men and women, due to the relative antipathy
of society toward women's participation in the labor force; and (2) in 1981
the effects of married female labor force participation decrease the risk of
suicide for both sexes, for there are net positive gains (psychic and material)
in a context of widespread acceptance of women's involvement in the paid
economy. The empirical analysis provides support for these two hypotheses.
KEY WORDS: married female labor force participation; Canada; suicide; log-rate regression.
INTRODUCTION
Since the early part of the 1960s the industrialized world has wit-
nessed an unprecedented rise in the number of women participating in the
paid labor force. As Davis (1984) and others have pointed out, this phe-
nomenon is of profound sociological significance, for it affects a variety of
societal dimensions, including gender roles, family structure, and reproduc-
tion levels. The growth of female labor force participation in western na-
tions in recent decades has been so pronounced that it is now viewed as
normative for women to be engaged in paid employment, and for married
women in particular to fulfill multiple roles, including mother, wife, and
full-time worker.
'Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, T6G 2H4.
661
0884-8971/92/1200--0661$06.50/0 0 1992 Plenum Publishing Corporation
662 Trovato and Vos
The sociological literature has pointed to both positive and negative
aspects of women's increased involvement in nontraditional roles. On the
one hand, it suggests that work poses increased demands on married
women, causing role overload and distress as a consequence of the com-
peting roles of wife, mother, and worker. Alternatively, it suggests that the
net effect of role expansion for women in contemporary society is positive,
in that it confers a greater sense of material and psychological well-being
for both women and their families (Sorensen and Verbrugge, 1987; Gove
and Tudor, 1973; Gove and Geerken, 1977; Iglehart, 1979; Marks, 1977;
Pearlin, 1990; Kessler and McRae, 1981; Oppenheimer, 1977; Sieber, 1974;
Sweet, 1973; Waite, 1976; Armstrong and Armstrong, 1984; Waldron, 1990;
Wilson, 1982). Work tends to increase women's self-esteem and gives them
the opportunity to establish friendship ties and to develop interpersonal
skills, both of which decrease the feeling of isolation many women experi-
ence when staying at home.
Given these divergent views on the effects of women's role expansion,
it is important to further examine the possible implications of this phe-
nomenon. If, for example, women's increased involvement in nontraditional
roles is indeed associated with increased stress, there may be an increase
in mental illness in society; if, however, it enhances well-being, there should
be a reduction in psychiatric problems. In accordance with Durkheim
(1951) and others who follow the Durkheimian perspective on social prob-
lems, we assume that suicide rates and the extent of mental illness reflect
the state of the society. A society low in integration will experience high
levels of both suicide and psychiatric problems.
This study concerns itself with the relationship between married female
labor force participation and suicide propensities among men and women
in Canada. Previous research on this topic has been based predominantly
in the United States. It is important to ascertain the extent to which
American-based findings can be generalized to other countries.
The significant growth of female labor force activity in Canada can
be illustrated by Census statistics. In 1931, the labor force participation
rate of women was only 19.3%. In 1961, the level of participation reached
29.5%. By 1971, the rate had increased dramatically, to 40%,
and in the
next decade it grew at a still faster rate, reaching almost 52% in 1981 (Arm-
strong and Armstrong, 1984:19). According to Wilson's (1982:19) analysis
of this development, by 1971 married women constituted 59.1% of total
women in the labor force, and by 1981, over 60%, a situation that is similar
to that in the United States (Stack, 1987).
During the postwar years, suicide propensities in Canada have been
increasing in a manner similar to other industrialized countries that have
undergone rapid social change. In 1951, the overall rate of suicide was 7.4
Married Female Labor and Suicide 663
per 100,000 population, increasing to 12.0 by 1971 and reaching 14.0 in
1981. Female suicide rates rose from 3.6 in 1951 to 6.4 in 1971, peaking
in 1976 at 7.2 per 100,000 population, and then declining to 6.8 in 1981.
The situation for males is different in two respects: their rates are typically
two to three times greater than those of women, and have generally fol-
lowed a pattern of successive increases in their risk from one decade to
the next. For example, in 1951 the male suicide rate in Canada was 11.1,
rising to 11.9 in 1961, 17.3 in 1971, and 21.3 in 1981.
The divergent trend in sex-specific suicide rates since the early 1970s
raises an important question: Could it be that this is partly linked to
changes in women's lives during this period, most specifically their large-
scale entry into the paid labor force? As mentioned earlier, the sociological
literature suggests that this phenomenon may have had important conse-
quences for men and women alike.
MODELS OF FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
AND SUICIDE
In investigating the association between female labor force participa-
tion and suicide, one must consider the cultural context. Following Stack's
(1987) investigation of this phenomenon in the United States, we draw from
two theoretical models as we examine how married female labor force par-
ticipation is linked to gender-specific suicide rates in Canada at two critical
points in time, 1971 and 1981.
Gibbs and Martin's theory (1964) of status integration and suicide
specifies that the probability of suicide for individuals varies inversely with
the degree to which persons in society occupy incompatible statuses. Their
operational definition of status incompatibility is a statistical one: any status
configuration that is infrequently occupied by persons in society. Individuals
in such status configurations suffer role incompatibility and therefore role
conflict, which may result in an increased probability of suicide for the role
incumbent. For example, before the large-scale entry of women into the
labor force, the predominant role configuration for women was wife and
mother. In that traditional cultural context, women deviating from this pre-
scribed configuration would experience role incompatibility and therefore
a greater likelihood of suicide in comparison to women who were wives
and mothers. During a traditional era, such deviations by women may also
have significant effects on their husbands. A working wife in such a culture
context may engender role conflict for the spouse, due to his failure to
meet society's expectation of sole breadwinner.
664 Trovato and Vos
The status integration theory's prediction concerning suicide and in-
frequent role configurations can be adapted to take into account the chang-
ing cultural context as a conditioning variable. As originally formulated,
the theory is implicitly cross-sectional in nature (Stack, 1990). Applying the
logic of this theory to the contemporary situation concerning the changing
role of women in society and suicide potential, we would posit that married
women who presently participate in the labor force would experience less
likelihood of suicide, because the status configuration of wife-mother-
worker is now a relatively frequent one, occupied by an increasing number
of women. Therefore, while the theory would predict a positive relationship
between married female labor force participation and suicide in a tradi-
tional context, it would predict an inverse association or no relationship at
all in the current more liberal gender role environment.
An important effect of recent changes in gender roles has been to
shift the cultural conception of what are appropriate roles for women in
society. For example, homemakers in contemporary times may find it dif-
ficult to justify their staying at home and may feel they have to prove in
social conversation that their role too is rewarding and interesting. In
earlier times, working women may have been in a similar situation be-
cause the cultural context was not supportive of the working role for
women.
A second theoretical model relating female labor force participa-
tion and suicide also takes into account the changing culture context.
Drawing from the works of Sieber (1974), Marks (1977), and Iglehart
(1979), Stack (1987) developed the role accumulation/expansion model,
which posits that the association between female labor force participa-
tion and suicide is strongest during a period of gender role traditional-
ism, while during a period of gender role emancipation the association
should weaken.
As already noted, the traditional era tends to be more difficult for
couples with a working wife. During the postwar years and up to the early
1970s, work for females represented an infrequent status, accompanied by
role conflict, stress, and role overload. The culture was not supportive of
women in the labor force. For men, a working wife engendered feelings
of insecurity due to the failure to conform to cultural expectations of man
as the sole breadwinner in the family. In such traditional periods, the psy-
chological costs of female labor force participation outweigh the benefits
for both sexes. Consequently, suicide rates for both sexes should correlate
strongly with female labor force participation. Stack (1987) found that this
was indeed the case in the United States from 1948 to 1963. The
American-based literature reviewed by Stack supports the thesis that work-
ing mothers experienced significant role-conflict during the postwar years.
Married Female Labor and Suicide 665
They were reported to feel more inadequate as parents than housewives
did, they were less likely to have positive self-perceptions, and they ex-
pressed a strong preference to stay at home rather than to work. Working
wives reported less satisfaction with their marriages.
As society's values and beliefs concerning gender roles become more
liberal, the cultural antipathy toward women in the labor force should di-
minish or vanish. Society may in fact begin to view work for women as
normative and may provide support to facilitate their expanding roles. In
the new cultural context, the rewards and benefits associated with female
labor force participation may outweigh the psychological and emotional
costs for both sexes, and the strong correlation with suicide should dimin-
ish or disappear altogether. Indeed, Stack (1987) discovered that there
was no relationship between female labor force participation and female
suicide during the emancipation period in the United States (1964-1980),
thus supporting the notion that gender role emancipation lowers female
suicide propensities. For males, however, the results of his analysis indicate
that even in the contemporary context, the costs of female labor force
participation still outweigh the benefits, thus contributing to increased
suicide risk.
The Canadian Context
Although the start of the recent emancipation era is considered the
early to middle 1960s, heralded by Friedan's (1963) The Feminine Mystique,
large-scale changes in Canadian women's social status and gender roles did
not begin until the early 1970s. There is always a significant time lag be-
tween the beginning of any social movement and society's acceptance of
its principles on a large scale. In 1971, the Canadian culture context was
still largely unsupportive of the expanding roles of women in society. It
was not until the late 1970s to early 1980s that the idea of gender role
liberalization became widespread, and the large-scale participation of
women in the labor force began to be viewed as normative.
According to Wilson (1982:127-128), the women's movement in
Canada began to take on structural importance in 1966 with the creation
of the Committee for Equality for Women. Its report, the Royal
Commission on the Status of Women, published in 1970, thoroughly
documented sexual inequalities in Canada, with detailed discussion of how
these inequalities were perpetuated by existing social institutions. As time
progressed, women's issues in Canada came to the forefront, leading to
significant improvements in the status of women. Since the early 1970s,
women's concerns across the country have expanded to include not only
666 Trovato and Vos
affirmative action in the workplace, but also such important issues as rape,
family violence, women's health, and women's culture.
The decade between 1971 and 1981 was thus a critical period with
regard to the way Canadian society has viewed and reacted to women's
changing roles in the family and the economy. Even though significant
structural changes (such as the rise of female employment and increasing
participation of women in higher education, politics, and professional oc-
cupations) had been developing since the early 1960s, women's roles until
the early 1970s were still predominantly viewed by society in a traditional
manner. By 1981, however, Canadian society was ready to accept a new
normative order based on redefined sex roles and a widespread accep-
tance of women's role expansion beyond the family sphere (Wilson,
1982).
Besides the significant rise in female labor force participation and
more liberal attitudes to changing gender roles, a number of social demo-
graphic trends may be cited as further evidence that profound changes in
women (and men) were evolving during the 1971-1981 decade. In 1971,
the divorce rate in Canada increased to unprecedented levels; fertility rates
had been declining since the early 1960s, and by the middle 1970s had
reached below replacement levels (Romaniuc, 1986). Married couples had
fewer children, and women had more time to devote to non-family endeav-
ors. The spread of day-care centers enabled married women with young
children to go out into the labor force and to pursue careers.
Thus, we anticipate finding in Canada a pattern similar to that ob-
served (for women at least) in the United States: We predict that in 1971,
when Canadian society had not fully adjusted to nor accepted the idea of
greater freedom for women and was still predominantly unsupportive of
married women taking on the dual responsibilities of homemaker and
worker, female labor force participation will be associated with increased
male and female rates of suicide. By the early 1980s, in contrast, the net
effect of female labor force participation on men and women (husbands
and wives) would, we hypothesize, be to increase psychological and material
well-being. Not only do women gain in self-esteem from participation
in
the paid economy, but their families also benefit due to greater material
comfort and accumulation provided by women's financial contribution to
the household. Therefore, suicide risk should be lower in such a context.
DATA AND METHODS
With the exception of Stack (1987), previous analysts have not
separated the married component from the overall female labor force
Married Female Labor and Suicide
667
participation variable (e.g., Newman et al., 1973). In our multivariate
analysis we examine only the married female labor force
component
(MFLFP), since it is well documented that married women
represent the
largest segment of the female labor force (Davis, 1984; Stack, 1987;
Steffensmeir, 1984; Sorensen and Verbrugge, 1987; Wilson, 1982;
Armstrong and Armstrong, 1984).
A further improvement over earlier research is that we include more
than one or two control variables in the statistical analysis (e.g., Davis, 1981;
Stack, 1987). Six variables are included in our multivariate model in order
to provide a more stringent test of how female labor force participation
affects male and female suicide rates. In addition to age, sex, and time
period, three important control variables drawn from the suicide literature
are considered. The divorce rate serves as a proxy for the Durkheimian
concept of domestic integration. Although it is recognized that divorce is
not a perfect measure for this abstract concept, it is generally considered
to be a good indicator of loss of domestic integration (Breault, 1986). The
percentage of the population reporting no religious affiliation is used as a
proxy for another of Durkheim's theoretical constructs, religious integra-
tion. As in the case of divorce, it is recognized that this variable is an im-
perfect index of religious integration, but in view of the unavailability of
more precise measures this variable will have to suffice. We surmise that
the more people in society who report "no religious affiliation," the lower
is the degree of religious integration in society. Previous research in the
United States and in some other parts of the world has shown that unem-
ployment generally increases suicide risk (Platt, 1984; Horwitz, 1984; Stack,
1987). Thus, in order to control for the effects of economic anomie on
suicide, the unemployment/employment ratio is included as an additional
control variable.
A third contribution of the present study lies in the explicit inclusion
of age as an important control variable in the statistical model. In previous
studies age is usually not treated as an explicit control variable, but rather
as a selection variable. For example, Stack (1987) selected for his analysis
only the broad population component aged 20-39. Since suicide shows a
strong age dependency (Trovato, 1987a, 1989; Lester, 1972), it is important
to include it as an explicit statistical control with a more inclusive range
of age categories. We decided to examine the quinquennial age groups from
20-24 to 50-54. It was felt this age range could serve as an indirect proxy
for the formative and building phases of the family life cycle. It is during
these years that family life is most intense, and when most couples are
faced with children, a mortgage, and the possible necessity for mothers to
work.
668 Trovato and Vos
A special tabulation from Statistics Canada containing suicide counts
for 1971 and 1981 cross-classified by province, age, and sex serves as the
basis for this analysis. To this multidimensional cross-tabulation, we
appended cell-specific population counts, and four continuous variables: the
divorce rate, the proportion of the population with "no religion," the ratio
of unemployed to employed persons, and the proportion of married women
in the labor force. These variables were extracted from published Census
and Vital Statistics tabulations and from the Public Use Sample Tapes of
the 1971 and 1981 censuses (see the References and Appendix I for more
details on these data sources).
The data are analyzed with a log-linear model suitable for the mul-
tivariate analysis of countable data (Haberman, 1979; Laird and Olivier,
1981; Clogg and Eliason, 1987). The model assumes that suicide is a rare
event and therefore follows a Poisson distribution. We use the log-link to
model this process (Agresti, 1990; Clogg and Eliason, 1987). The analysis
is partitioned by gender in order to better assess how married female labor
force participation and other covariates affect male and female suicide pro-
pensities.2 The equations take on the following form:
Si
I=7
log ( -)
= X + X RAGE + XNOREL + XDIV +
Pii=l
XUNEMP
+
XMFLFP
where:
Si
is the number of suicides by age;
Pi
the population at risk by
age; X an intercept term; XAGE the parameters for age (where age is cate-
gorical in five-year age groups, 20-24, . . ., 50-54), subject to the restriction
AGE
=
N; OREL
the
parameter
for the
percentage
of the
population
that reports "no religion" (continuous variable); XDIV the parameter for
the divorce rate, expressed as the number of divorces divided by the popu-
lation at risk (continuous variable); XUNEMP the parameter for unemploy-
ment expressed as the ratio unemployed/employed (continuous variable);
XMFLFP the parameter for the married female labor force participation rate,
expressed as the number of married women in the labor force divided
by
the number of persons in the labor force (continuous variable).
Note that although the data are age-province specific for each time
period and gender, province is not included as a predictor
in the
equations
since it is of no substantive importance to the purpose of this study. The
2Ideally, we would have analyzed married male and married female suicide rates as the
dependent variables, since the main objective of this study was to test how MFLFP affects
husbands and wives' suicide risks. Unfortunately, the suicide data available are not adequately
broken down to allow for this refinement.
Married Female Labor and Suicide 669
independent variables are all summed over province; therefore, the unit of
analysis in this study is the age-sex specific cell in the multiway table of
suicides for 1971 and 1981 periods separately.
The parameters are computed by maximum likelihood estimation with
the SPSSx LOGLINEAR subroutine, thus avoiding some of the more
problematic features of ordinary least squares estimation (e.g., hetero-
skedasticity).3 The X (lambda) effects measure the extent to which a given
variable adds to (if positive) or subracts from (if negative) the overall
suicide rate, while all other variables in the equation are held constant.
The left side of the equation is the natural logarithm of the suicide rate.
Although we present an additive form of the model, the equation can be
expressed in multiplicative terms by taking the antilogarithm of each term,
and can be interpreted as the extent to which a given term multiplies the
overall rate net of all other predictors in the model.
RESULTS
Table I displays the log-rate regression equations for males in 1971
and 1981. In both time periods, the amount of variance explained is around
50%. Failure to account for more variance is an indication that suicide is
a complex phenomenon and that additional predictors are needed to pro-
vide a more complete picture. Nevertheless, the amount of variability ex-
plained is not insignificant. The parameters indicate that independent of
time period, age, no religion, divorce, and unemployment, MFLFP is sig-
nificantly related to the risk of suicide for males in Canada.
These findings emphasize the important role of the cultural context in this
relationship. In 1971, MFLFP exerted a positive effect on the male suicide rate
(X = 0.01715), suggesting that during the early 1970s society's antipathy to married
women working created significant role conflict among men and some of them com-
mitted suicide. The 1980s were characterized by an increased acceptance of women's
role expansion, and men evidently benefited from this development, the net psychic
and economic gains associated with female employment sewing to reduce their risk
of suicide (X
=
-0.03922). It appears that the Canadian situation differs in this re-
spect from that of the United States, where Stack (1987) reported that even in the
context of liberalized sex roles, wives' involvement in paid work results in an
increased suicide risk for men.
3See Trovato (1988/89) for a description of how SPSSx LOGLINEAR
procedure
can be
adapted to fitting log-rate models. Note that the equation specified in this
study
can also be
expressed in terms of the cell-specific suicide counts instead of the
cell-specific rate;
that
is,
log
(Di)
= k + gkage + + XMFLFP +
log(Pi),
where
Di
is the suicide counts and
Pi
the
population counts.
670
Trovato and Vos
Table
I.
Log-Rate
Regression
Analysis
of
Male
Suicide
Risk
in
Canada,
1971
and
1981a
1971
1981
Effects
X
Z
e
X
Z
eX
Intercept
-9.10879
0.000111
-8.12610
-
0.000296
Age
20-24
-0.33600
-1.51
0.71462
1.25224
8.51
3.49817
25-29
-0.16611
-2.14
0.84695
0.04653
0.66
1.04763
30-34
0.16560
-1.43
0.84739
0.38763
-3.83
0.67866
35-39
-0.01089
-0.13
0.98917
-0.51231
-5.54
0.59911
40-44
0.18567
2.48
1.20402
-0.11092
-1.52
0.89501
45-49
0.16587
2.25
1.18042
-0.12558
-1.53
0.88199
50-54(R)
Norel
0.02339
2.16
1.02367
0.03281
6.87
1.03335
Div
-0.00481
-0.18
0.99520
0.06170
3.72
1.06364
Unemp
0.00628
0.36
1.00631
-0.00649
-0.89
0.99353
MFLFP
0.01715
2.85
1.01731
-0.03922
-6.69
0.96154
(Suicide
Rate)
(17.3)
(21.3)
2
67.56
214.37
Lm
df
52
52
L2
142.65
401.54
df
62
62
2
0.53
0.47
RA
a
In
this
and
the
subsequent
table,
Z
values
below
2.00
are
considered
statistically
insignificant.
(R):
reference
category.
R
2:
1
-
(L
2
IL
2),
where
L
2
are
the
model
log-likelihood
chi-square,
and
L
B
the
baseline
log-likelihood
chi-square
(intercept
only).
df:
degrees
of
freedom.
In
this
and
the
subsequent
table,
the
intercept
parameter
reflects
the
risk
for
persons
aged
50-54
(the
reference
age
group),
given
their
parameter
values
and
corresponding
means
for
their
predictor
variables.
-
:
Z
test
not
computed.
Married Female Labor and Suicide 671
In both equations in Table I, age is a strong predictor of male sui-
cide. The effects of no religion support Durkheim's thesis that a loss of
religious integration is associated with increased suicide propensities. Di-
vorce does not show a significant effect in 1971, but does so in 1981.4
Unemployment for males in Canada is not a significant predictor of sui-
cide. It is worth noting that while unemployment has been observed to
have devastating effects on males' psychological well-being in other parts
of the world (Platt, 1984; Horwitz, 1984; Shapiro and Ahlberg, 1982-1983),
in Canada the impact of this variable on suicide has been shown to be
limited, and in some cases it has a negative correlation with suicide even
after duration of unemployment is considered (Adams, 1981; Trovato,
1987a; 1987b). It may be that Canada's unemployment levels do not typi-
cally reach a sufficiently high threshold to precipitate a significant rise in
male suicide.
Table II concerns itself with the female suicide equations for 1971
and 1981. As is the case for men, the MFLFP parameter for 1971 is posi-
tive (k = 0.03189), and as we predicted, the effect is negative in 1981
(k
=
-0.03345). The cultural changes between 1971 and 1981 may
have led to a shift in how men and women have been affected by
women' s involvement in the labor force. In the earlier period, both
sexes experienced net losses and a rise in suicide risk, while in the
later context both genders derive net gains, thus lowering their suicide
potential.
The independent effect of religious disaffiliation translates into in-
creased suicide risks for females in both time periods (k in 1971
=
0.07815;
k in 1981 =
0.05047). Also, divorce shows a negative nonsignificant effect
on female risk of suicide in 1981. The effect of work loss for females in
1971 increased their probability of self-murder; in 1981, the influence of
this variable is insignificant.
4Most of the suicide literature reports a positive effect of divorce on suicide (Stack, 1982,
1985, 1990; Trovato, 1986, 1987a, 1987b; Wasserman, 1984). The lack of a significant effect
for 1971 is surprising. Most other studies use highly aggregated data, while the present one
used data at a lower level of aggregation, which may account for a lack of a significant effect
in 1971 for males. Another possible reason for the negative divorce effect on suicide for men
and women in 1971 may be associated with the timing in changes in divorce laws. In Canada,
the divorce laws were liberalized in 1968, and consequently there were many backlogged
cases due to a large number of couples who had filed for dissolution prior to 1968 and were
forced to wait until the new laws came into effect. A large number of these divorces were
formalized in the early 1970s. It is likely that many of these people viewed divorce as a
liberating experience after a lengthy waiting period, and possibly this resulted in a lower
incidence of suicide. This may explain why in 1971 the effect of divorce on male and female
suicide is negative. It is clear, however, from the present analysis, that in 1981 divorce
represented a significant determinant of suicide for both genders.
672 Trovato and Vos
Table
II.
Log
Rate
Regression
Analysis
of
Female
Suicide
Risk
in
Canada,
1971
and
1981a
1971
1981
Effects
Z
e
X
Z
e
X
Intercept
-10.33476
-
0.000032
-9.27980
0.000093
Age
20-24
-1.32632
-5.61
0.26545
0.45162
2.14
1.57085
25-29
-0.52228
-3.02
0.59317
0.38043
-1.73
0.68357
30-34
0.20215
1.21
1.22403
-0.49816
-2.93
1.64569
35-39
0.16167
1.21
1.17547
-0.47209
-3.53
0.62371
40-44
0.48515
4.02
1.62448
0.27835
2.63
1.32095
45-49
0.49486
4.41
1.64027
0.27424
1.61
1.31553
50-54(R)
Norel
0.07815
2.39
1.08128
0.05047
4.18
1.05177
Div
-0.04852
-0.92
0.95264
0.07407
2.31
1.07688
Unemp
0.08645
2.74
1.09029
-0.02498
-1.58
0.97533
MFLFP
0.03189
3.83
1.03240
-0.03345
-2.64
0.96710
(Suicide
Rate)
(6.4)
(6.8)
2
78.89
121.53
Lm
df
52
52
L
i
203.30
207.21
df
62
62
2
0.61
0.42
RA
a
Refer
to
footnotes
in
Table
I.
Married Female Labor and Suicide 673
CONCLUSION
Following the work of Stack (1987) based on the American experi-
ence, this paper provides an analysis of the relationship between married
female labor force participation and suicide for both men and women in
Canada for 1971 and 1981. Aspects of status integration and role expan-
sion/accumulation theories are synthesized into an explanation of how the
changing cultural context, and the shifts in gender roles, between these two
periods in Canada conditions the effects of such labor force participation
on male and female suicide risk.
Our results suggest that the status integration theory of Gibbs and
Martin (1964) is applicable as an explanation of how temporal changes
in status configurations of women relate to changes in suicide risk. While
we do not test the theory in the manner specified by Gibbs and Martin,
we have drawn from it in order to specify how women's involvement in
the labor force affects suicide over time in the context of Canada.5 While
MFLFP was positively related to male and female suicide in 1971, the
association is negative in 1981. This reversal in the relationship is con-
sistent with the thesis that in 1971 Canadian society had not fully ac-
cepted the changing status and expanding roles of women that began to
take form in the early to middle 1960s. Work for women entailed not
only an infrequent status, but also a significant degree of role conflict
and role overload; for males, a working wife denoted failure in the tra-
ditional role of sole breadwinner. Thus in 1971, suicide correlated posi-
tively for both sexes. By 1981, the impact of the women's movement had
spread throughout most of the society. Canadian women, like their
American counterparts, had made significant strides in occupational, edu-
cational, political, and cultural institutions; the idea of sex role equality
and role expansion for women had gained acceptance. This development
evolved in the context of profound social demographic changes such as
the rapid decline in childbearing, the rising divorce rate, the rise in the
median age at first marriage, and an increasing trend for young people
to enter common-law unions. The sociocultural climate was therefore
conducive to a greater acceptance of alternative lifestyles for both gen-
ders. For women, work, motherhood, and the pursuit of a career came
A test of the status integration theory as proposed by Gibbs and Martin (1964) would
necessarily entail the application of the methodology outlined in their formulation of the
theory. In this study we are not testing the status integration theory, but rather draw certain
principles from it, namely that in the more traditional sex role MFLFP represents an
infrequent status and would therefore be associated with increased suicide risk, while in the
emancipation era the same participation represents a frequent status for women, and hence
suicide risk should be unrelated or negatively associated with it.
674 Trovato and Vos
to be viewed as normative. As more married women entered the labor
force, households benefited from the additional income provided by
working wives, thus enhancing well-being among family members.
Women gained in self-esteem due to their economic independence and
their expanding formal and informal affiliations outside the home. These
developments have resulted in a significant decline in suicide potential
for both women and men.
Our results coincide with the analyses of Steffensmeir (1984) and
with Kushner (1985). In most previous accounts of the sex differential in
suicide in the industrialized world, analysts have tended to view increased
female freedom as a negative development, which would lead to increased
distress and suicide in both sexes. The present analysis for Canada shows
that as women move away from traditional roles, and as society adjusts
to this new reality, suicide risk declines not only for women, but also for
men.
While our results are generally consistent with the American-based
research (e.g., Stack, 1987), they do not support Stack's result that during
the emancipation era MFLFP increases males' suicide potential. In Canada,
the evidence suggests the opposite conclusion. It may be that males in Can-
ada and the United States differ in how they respond to wives' participation
in the labor force, an important issue worth pursuing. While change in the
cultural context is important in conditioning the suicide relationship, the
country may be an additional conditioning factor, possibly due to cross-na-
tional differences in demographic compositions (e.g., race, ethnicity, lan-
guage, etc.), and in policies facilitating the expanding gender roles of men
and women.
It would be desirable to extend this analysis to include more time
periods before 1971 and after 1981; two time periods may not provide a
definitive test of the historical-contextual phenomenon under investigation.
However, such endeavor will be hampered by the fact that it will not be
possible to include all of the variables in this analysis for periods before
1971 due to a lack of published data for some of the indicators. It will be
possible to include time periods beyond 1981, but only when the 1991 cen-
sus data are published.
As women continue to enter the labor force in increasing numbers,
the implications for mental health levels in Canadian society are of con-
siderable interest, in the light of suicide's association with psychiatric prob-
lems. This analysis suggests that there may be less psychological distress in
husbands and wives as women take on a more dominant role in the econ-
omy. However, more direct tests of this proposition must be undertaken
in future research.
Married Female Labor and Suicide 675
Appendix I. Description of Variables in this Study
Variable Description Source
1. Suicide The number of suicides Special tabulation from
cross-classified by age, Statistics Canada, Vital
sex
and,
province'
Statistics,
1971 and 1981
2. Population at risk Population counts 1971 and 1981 Censuses,
cross-classified by age, published tabulations
sex, and province
3. Age group 20-24, 25-29, 30-34,
35-39, 40-44, 45-49,
50-54
4. Gender Male, female
5. Period 1971, 1981
6. Divorce rate Age-sex-province-specific Statistics Canada, special
(Div) divorce rate per 1000: tabulation from Vital
the number of divorces Statistics for 1971;
divided by the published Vital
population at risk Statistics for 1981
7. No religion Percentage of the 1971 and 1981 Censuses,
(NOREL) age-sex-provincial published tabulations
population reporting
no religious affiliation
in the Census
8. Unemployment Ratio of unemployed to 1971 and 1981 Censuses,
(UNEMP) employed public use sample tapes
age-sex-provincial-
specific population per
100
9. Married female Percentage of the 1971 and 1981 Censuses,
labor force age-provincial-specific public use sample tapes
participation population in the labor
(MFLFP) force that is married
female
aThe number of provinces is 9, since data for Prince Edward Island were not available.
Therefore, the total number of cells in the data set is a (Province) x 7 (Age) x 2 (Sex) x
2 (Period)
= 252.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to three anonymous reviewers of Sociological Forum
for their helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this
article.
676 Trovato and Vos
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