New research published online in the journal JAMA Psychiatry has revealed that a child is more likely to attempt suicide if his or her parents have attempted suicide in the past. In fact, children with parents who have attempted suicide are five times more likely to attempt it themselves, compared to children with parents who haven't attempted suicide.
Researchers found a direct effect of a parent's suicide attempt on a child, even after taking into account a history of suicide attempts by the offspring and any transmission of mood disorders from parent to offspring. The study found that suicidal behavior can run in families and it also identified the pathways by which this behavior is transmitted.
"Impulsive aggression was an important precursor of mood disorder and could be targeted in interventions designed to prevent youth at high familial risk from making a suicide attempt," lead researcher of the study, David Brent from University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pennsylvania says.
For the study, researchers followed 701 children ages 10 to 50 years old of 334 parents with mood disorders for almost six years. Of the parents, over half (57.2%), or 191 had attempted suicide at some point in their lives. Of the 701 children, 6.3% or 44 had already made an attempt at suicide before the study began and 4.1% or 29 attempted suicide during the study.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death for children between the ages of 10 and 24, claiming approximately 4,600 lives each year. However, this is only part of the problem, as many more children survive their attempt at suicide. In a nationwide survey of youth in grades 9-12, researchers found that 16% of students have seriously considered suicide, 13% planned their suicide, and 8% made an attempt at suicide. Each year, about 157,000 children receive treatment for self-inflicted injuries across the United States.
People are often reluctant to discuss the topic of suicide, and too often the victims are blamed and their friends and families are left stigmatized. As a result, victims and their families often do not communicate about the dangers with each other or their healthcare providers leave much of the problem of suicide cloaked in secrecy.
Research continues to discover the causes of suicide in youth and adults, with a focus on prevention strategies to stop these attempts before they happen. This latest research is just more ammunition in the fight against suicide and could potentially help physicians prevent these attempts before they happen, with a detailed examination of patient and family history.
