Table 2

Age-adjusted, sex-adjusted and sex-stratified associations of SEP measures with a respondent report of attempted suicide in the past year

Overall (age-adjusted/sex-adjusted)Sex-stratified OR* (95% CI)
OR (95% CI)p ValueFemaleMalep value for interaction†
Household measures
Asset score
 High1<0.001‡110.22
 Middle1.85 (1.49 to 2.29)1.75 (1.33 to 2.34)1.96 (1.41 to 2.72)
 Low3.21 (2.36 to 4.37)2.44 (1.56 to 3.81)4.30 (2.80 to 6.57)
Highest occupation in household§
 Government worker/graduate foreign employed0.62 (0.41 to 0.93)<0.001§0.51 (0.28 to 0.94)0.76 (0.44 to 1.32)
 Farmer111
 Security forces1.03 (0.72 to 1.47)1.60 (1.06 to 2.42)0.40 (0.18 to 0.87)
 Businessmen0.70 (0.36 to 1.33)0.90 (0.41 to 1.97)0.46 (0.14 to 1.44)
 Self-employed1.28 (0.94 to 1.74)1.13 (0.73 to 1.74)1.46 (0.95 to 2.24)
 Non-graduate foreign employed1.08 (0.59 to 1.96)1.08 (0.49 to 2.36)1.11 (0.45 to 2.74)
 Salaried employee1.11 (0.75 to 1.65)1.38 (0.85 to 2.23)0.78 (0.39 to 1.55)
 Daily wage labourer2.25 (1.61 to 3.16)1.79 (1.09 to 2.94)2.76 (1.76 to 4.31)
 Unemployed/retired1.41 (0.65 to 3.06)1.15 (0.36 to 3.70)1.81 (0.65 to 5.00)
 Other¶2.42 (0.97 to 6.04)3.98 (1.55 to 10.23)
Young female head of household (≤40 years)1.60 (0.86 to 2.97)0.142.30 (1.24 to 4.23)
Household with non-graduate foreign employed0.87 (0.62 to 1.23)0.430.88 (0.56 to 1.39)0.86 (0.51 to 1.47)0.99
Individual measures
Individual occupation§
 Government worker/graduate foreign employed0.25 (0.09 to 0.69)<0.001‡0.49 (0.18 to 1.37)
 Farmer111
 Security forces0.23 (0.10 to 0.51)0.26 (0.12 to 0.58)
 Businessmen0.25 (0.06 to 1.02)0.36 (0.09 to 1.48)
 Self-employed1.18 (0.76 to 1.82)1.78 (0.79 to 4.02)1.08 (0.64 to 1.81)
 Non-graduate foreign employed0.19 (0.06 to 0.63)0.35 (0.10 to 1.28)
 Salaried employee0.85 (0.57 to 1.28)1.20 (0.58 to 2.49)0.75 (0.44 to 1.29)
 Daily wage labourer1.82 (1.22 to 2.72)2.17 (0.83 to 5.65)1.90 (1.22 to 2.95)
 Unemployed/retired1.42 (0.95 to 2.12)1.60 (0.77 to 3.29)1.76 (1.05 to 2.93)
 House worker/other0.78 (0.53 to 1.14)1.04 (0.55 to 1.98)0.57 (0.08 to 4.13)
 Student0.23 (0.15 to 0.36)0.35 (0.16 to 0.73)0.14 (0.06 to 0.32)
Individual education
 University/A-level1<0.001‡11<0.001
 O-level1.74 (1.29 to 2.35)1.70 (1.18 to 2.45)1.96 (1.16 to 3.30)
 Primary2.72 (1.81 to 4.08)2.57 (1.47 to 4.47)3.11 (1.66 to 5.84)
 Not attended4.63 (2.54 to 8.41)3.10 (1.18 to 8.16)8.35 (3.72 to 18.71)
  • No p value for interaction presented when it was not possible to calculate interaction parameters due to limited data points.

  • *Estimated ORs adjusted for age.

  • †This is an interaction test with sex and does not adjust for age in the models. Cells with no data (–) are due to no strata-specific observations being present.

  • ‡Likelihood ratio test comparing model with and without an SEP variable. The p value indicates whether there is any evidence that the suicide attempt rate varies across the groups.

  • §Presented according to ranking.

  • ¶Made up of house workers, students and other occupations.

  • SEP, socioeconomic position.