By sector of activity, accommodation and catering remains the most affected by suicidal thoughts.
New light on the degraded mental health of young adults in the Covid era, the frequency of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts experienced “a significant increase” among 18-24 year olds in professional activity between 2020 and 2021 in France, according to a study published Tuesday.
For the first time, this work by Public Health France traces the evolution, over more than a decade, of the proportion of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts among adults aged 18 to 75 in professional activity in mainland France. The prevalence of suicidal thoughts in this population varied, depending on the year, between 3.2% and 4%.
18-24 year olds, adults not living as a couple, those living without children, those reporting a difficult financial situation, a fairly good or poor state of health, daily alcohol consumption showed a higher risk of suicidal thoughts in 2021. This study is based on data from the 2010, 2014, 2017, 2020 and 2021 “Health Barometers”, which are based on declarations by telephone representative samples of the population.
Young workers more affected
Another notable lesson: “it is only among the youngest, and especially among those aged 18-24, that an increase in the prevalence of suicidal thoughts was observed between 2020 and 2021”, reaching 7.1% in this age group. This contrasts with a moderate decrease or increase in other age groups. It is also among working people aged 18-24 that the highest proportion of suicide attempts was observed in 2017, and “especially 2020 and 2021, becoming significantly higher than that of other age groups”.
These results are consistent with the observations of numerous studies in the general population, “testifying to a major attack on the mental health of young adults during the Covid-19 pandemic”, notes Public Health France. Among men, employees had the highest prevalence of suicidal thoughts in 2020 and 2021; among women, there was no difference according to socio-professional category.
Double edged
By sector of activity, accommodation and catering remains the most affected by suicidal thoughts. The reasons given for suicidal thoughts were above all professional and family, in similar proportions around 40%. For suicide attempts, the motivations were primarily family (40-45% of cases), then professional (9%-14%), and exclusively professional for 6% of men and 2% of women.
“If having a job is recognized as protective against suicide, exposure to certain harmful professional situations (harassment, low decision-making latitude, lack of support from colleagues and superiors, etc.) constitutes a factor significant risk for the occurrence of suicidal behavior”, points out the study.
