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Do tenants suffer from status syndrome? Homeownership, norms and suicide in Belgium.

Joan Damiens, University of Helsinki
Christine Schnor, UCLouvain

Homeownership is considered the most desired tenure status and is associated with a lower suicide risk. Death by suicide is particularly high for middle-aged populations, and for single and/or childless individuals. This study examines the varying effect of housing tenure on suicide risks across gender, adult ages and household composition. We used Belgian National Register data linked to 2001 Census and Death certificates to study suicide rates in the population aged 20 to 69 during the year 2002 separately by sex. We find a negative association of homeownership on suicide risk for both men and women, before and after controlling for age, housing quality, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Interacting age and housing tenure, we find that renting increases the risk of suicide among adults in their 40s and 50s, but not among younger and older adults. Looking closer on marital and parental status, foremost married fathers and single childless women face a suicide peak in mid-life when renting. Homeownership is associated with a lower suicide risk for middle-aged populations, and more precisely for married men, unpartnered women and for individuals living with children. The relation between housing tenure and suicide highly depends on social norms about age and gender.

Keywords: Mortality, Inequality, Health and morbidity, Census data

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session P10.