WOMEN'S SOCIO-ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS AND FEMALE SUICIDE MORTALITY: A PANEL DATA ANALYSIS OF 41 COUNTRIES

Abstract

The problem of female suicide mortality constitutes a great concern in public health. It encompasses socio-economic and demographic aspects that impact women in general. The current research analyses the effect of adolescent fertility and female labor force participation on female suicide mortality by means of panel regression analysis of data for 41 countries during the period from 2000 to 2021. In particular, an unbalanced sample of 902 observations is estimated using Pooled Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Fixed Effects (FE) and Random Effects (RE). A Hausman specification test is used to identify the appropriate panel regression estimator. According to the results obtained, there exists a positive correlation between adolescent fertility and female suicide mortality, while female labor force participation is negatively related to the dependent variable. The choice of RE is justified by the results of the Hausman test, which shows that country specific effects have no relationship with regressors. At the same time, the diagnostic tests identify the existence of heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation. Using robust standard errors diminishes the significance of the regressors.