Abstract
This presentation is an extension of a roundtable from last year; we added propensity-score matching thanks to suggestions from the roundtable:
The suicide rate among farmers is much higher than that of the overall working population. Literature on farmer mental health in Georgia has been scarce and mostly focused on farmer suicide. This study looks at the influence of being a beginning farmer (less than 10 years of experience) on farm-related stressors and coping mechanisms.
This cross-sectional study inventories mental well-being, stressors, and coping mechanisms for different types of farmers. Participants (N=1,328) were asked demographics, household composition, work descriptors, healthcare access, specific stressors, stress levels, and coping mechanisms.
Two-thirds of our sample consisted of beginning farmers (68%). Beginning farmers have more stressors they worry about, and they are also more intensely worried about them. Various financial issues were among the top stressors, which coincides with their lower household income, more likely to have farming as their only source of income, needing more bill payment assistance, and them having less likely to have all types of insurance except for crop insurance. Beginning farmers used fewer coping mechanisms on average. Beginning farmers had a higher stress score, and they are more likely to feel scared to lose their job, significant income, or their farm, feel unhappy with their role, and feel lonely, sad/depressed, hopeless more often. They are also more likely to have had suicidal ideation in the past year. However, propensity score matching showed that experience is not the main link between farmers and suicidal ideation. It is possible that their higher first-generation status (65% vs 47%) is the explanatory link.
Keywords
rural, agriculture, farm, mental health, suicide
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Propensity-Score Matching Beginning and Experienced Farmers on Stress and Coping Mechanisms to Predict Suicidal Ideation
This presentation is an extension of a roundtable from last year; we added propensity-score matching thanks to suggestions from the roundtable:
The suicide rate among farmers is much higher than that of the overall working population. Literature on farmer mental health in Georgia has been scarce and mostly focused on farmer suicide. This study looks at the influence of being a beginning farmer (less than 10 years of experience) on farm-related stressors and coping mechanisms.
This cross-sectional study inventories mental well-being, stressors, and coping mechanisms for different types of farmers. Participants (N=1,328) were asked demographics, household composition, work descriptors, healthcare access, specific stressors, stress levels, and coping mechanisms.
Two-thirds of our sample consisted of beginning farmers (68%). Beginning farmers have more stressors they worry about, and they are also more intensely worried about them. Various financial issues were among the top stressors, which coincides with their lower household income, more likely to have farming as their only source of income, needing more bill payment assistance, and them having less likely to have all types of insurance except for crop insurance. Beginning farmers used fewer coping mechanisms on average. Beginning farmers had a higher stress score, and they are more likely to feel scared to lose their job, significant income, or their farm, feel unhappy with their role, and feel lonely, sad/depressed, hopeless more often. They are also more likely to have had suicidal ideation in the past year. However, propensity score matching showed that experience is not the main link between farmers and suicidal ideation. It is possible that their higher first-generation status (65% vs 47%) is the explanatory link.
