Drought has been the focus of a majority of studies in terms of its influence on agriculture, the economy, health, and the social well-being of farmers, but less research has been done in comparison concerning the psychological well-being of farmers in India. Limited research is available on drought, and even less on the psychological impact of drought. Drought causes a variety of psychological problems that can significantly influence the well-being of farmers. As the psychological health of farmers becomes a more pressing matter with increased psychological distress, this paper focuses on analyzing the studies that explore the impact of drought on the mental health of Indian farmers. The review of literature presented highlights the breadth of research examining factors influencing depression and suicidal ideation among Indian farmers over the last twelve years. Further, the paper also presents the effect that resilience can have on the well-being of farmers and will examine whether resilience plays a role in diminishing the levels of depression and suicidal ideation in farmers. Furthermore, an analytical discussion on depression, suicidal ideation, and Resilience among Indian farmers is also the focus of the paper. This paper can help novice researchers understand the psychological impacts of drought in regards to the mentioned variables and gain clarity on any relationship between them.
Published in | American Journal of Applied Psychology (Volume 14, Issue 1) |
DOI | 10.11648/j.ajap.20251401.13 |
Page(s) | 21-28 |
Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Drought, Indian Farmers, Depression, Suicidal Ideation, Resilience
Serial No | Author | Description of Study | Important Results |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Patel et al. [29] | Selected 6671 areas from the entire parts of India and examine every births and deaths from 2001 to 2003. | Man’s suicide deaths is 40% and women’s suicide deaths is 56% at ages of 15–29 years. A cumulative risk of 1·3% for 15-year-old person dying from suicide before 80 years of age. |
2 | Kale [19] | Selected 178 villages including 34 tahsils from 6 districts of Vidarbha and Interview of 200 family members | 65.5% of the cases had completed suicide with insecticide where as 24.5% hanging cases were the next most common. |
3 | Bhise & Behere [22] | Out of 111 suicide households visited, 98 farmers’ suicide victims selected for study | 50% of the farmers’ suicide was younger than 40 years. 92% were educated up to 10th grade. 36.7% of suicide households were BPL. Methods of suicide were: 68.37% consumption Pesticide, 15.31% by hanging, and 12.24% by drowning whereas 3.06%) by self-immolation. |
4 | Shidhaye et al. [31] | Interview 1456 individuals between the ages of 18–87 years in 30 villages of Amravati district. | 14.6% cases of current depression were observed, 4.3% cases of contact coverage for current depression were observed |
5 | Arya et al. [21] | NCRB and census data during 2001–2013 in India | Suicide rates of male remained steady (14 per 100,000) where as suicide rates of female decreased from 9 to 7 per 100,000 population. Highest suicide rate observed in male age of 45–59 years where as in female age of 15–29 years observed the highest suicide rate. |
6 | Viswanathan et al. [36] | Interview of 194 farmers in Tiruchirappalli district of Tamil Nadu | 97.4% had some form of depression; Of 194 cases, 117 (60.3%) had suicidal ideation; The score of mean resilience was 49.4 ± 10. Minimum and maximum scores were 21 and 69, respectively. Also, 61.7% of farmers from small scale and 16.7% of farmers from large scale had suicidal ideation. |
7 | Swami et al. [28] | Interview of 400 farmers in Buldhana of Vidarbha and Parbhani of Marathwada regions from Maharashtra | Of the farmers, 36% had suicidal thoughts over the past five years, 69% of the farmers was indebted, while 31% not shown any indebtedness. Increase in indebtedness result increase in suicidal ideation significantly among farmers |
8 | Joshi and Bant [35] | Interview of 324 farmers in t in the villages of Kalghatagi talukof Karnataka | Reported 25.3% suicidal ideation in the earlier 6 months. The scores of mean stress were high among those with suicidal ideation (12.69±1.12 s.d.). |
9 | Mehra et al. [37] | Interview of 375 farmers in Hisar, Bhiwani, Fatehabad, and Sirsa of Haryana | r = 0.519 revealed that the suicidal ideation was +ve correlated with depression and -ve with resilience where r = −0.381. Resilience shown -ve correlation with suicidal ideation (r = −0.624). |
SI | Suicidal Ideation |
NGO | Non-Governmental Organization |
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APA Style
Nisar, Z., Siddiqui, R. N. (2025). The Effect of Depression, Suicidal Ideation and Resilience on the Well Being of Indian Farmers: A Review. American Journal of Applied Psychology, 14(1), 21-28. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20251401.13
ACS Style
Nisar, Z.; Siddiqui, R. N. The Effect of Depression, Suicidal Ideation and Resilience on the Well Being of Indian Farmers: A Review. Am. J. Appl. Psychol. 2025, 14(1), 21-28. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20251401.13
@article{10.11648/j.ajap.20251401.13, author = {Zoya Nisar and Roomana N Siddiqui}, title = {The Effect of Depression, Suicidal Ideation and Resilience on the Well Being of Indian Farmers: A Review}, journal = {American Journal of Applied Psychology}, volume = {14}, number = {1}, pages = {21-28}, doi = {10.11648/j.ajap.20251401.13}, url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20251401.13}, eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajap.20251401.13}, abstract = {Drought has been the focus of a majority of studies in terms of its influence on agriculture, the economy, health, and the social well-being of farmers, but less research has been done in comparison concerning the psychological well-being of farmers in India. Limited research is available on drought, and even less on the psychological impact of drought. Drought causes a variety of psychological problems that can significantly influence the well-being of farmers. As the psychological health of farmers becomes a more pressing matter with increased psychological distress, this paper focuses on analyzing the studies that explore the impact of drought on the mental health of Indian farmers. The review of literature presented highlights the breadth of research examining factors influencing depression and suicidal ideation among Indian farmers over the last twelve years. Further, the paper also presents the effect that resilience can have on the well-being of farmers and will examine whether resilience plays a role in diminishing the levels of depression and suicidal ideation in farmers. Furthermore, an analytical discussion on depression, suicidal ideation, and Resilience among Indian farmers is also the focus of the paper. This paper can help novice researchers understand the psychological impacts of drought in regards to the mentioned variables and gain clarity on any relationship between them.}, year = {2025} }
TY - JOUR T1 - The Effect of Depression, Suicidal Ideation and Resilience on the Well Being of Indian Farmers: A Review AU - Zoya Nisar AU - Roomana N Siddiqui Y1 - 2025/02/17 PY - 2025 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20251401.13 DO - 10.11648/j.ajap.20251401.13 T2 - American Journal of Applied Psychology JF - American Journal of Applied Psychology JO - American Journal of Applied Psychology SP - 21 EP - 28 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2328-5672 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20251401.13 AB - Drought has been the focus of a majority of studies in terms of its influence on agriculture, the economy, health, and the social well-being of farmers, but less research has been done in comparison concerning the psychological well-being of farmers in India. Limited research is available on drought, and even less on the psychological impact of drought. Drought causes a variety of psychological problems that can significantly influence the well-being of farmers. As the psychological health of farmers becomes a more pressing matter with increased psychological distress, this paper focuses on analyzing the studies that explore the impact of drought on the mental health of Indian farmers. The review of literature presented highlights the breadth of research examining factors influencing depression and suicidal ideation among Indian farmers over the last twelve years. Further, the paper also presents the effect that resilience can have on the well-being of farmers and will examine whether resilience plays a role in diminishing the levels of depression and suicidal ideation in farmers. Furthermore, an analytical discussion on depression, suicidal ideation, and Resilience among Indian farmers is also the focus of the paper. This paper can help novice researchers understand the psychological impacts of drought in regards to the mentioned variables and gain clarity on any relationship between them. VL - 14 IS - 1 ER -