Parental suicide attempts and offspring mental health problems in childhood and adolescence.

Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0375361 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1469-7610 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00219630 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Child Psychol Psychiatry Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: 2002- : Oxford : Blackwell Publishers
Original Publication: Oxford ; New York : Pergamon Press

Suicide, Attempted*/psychology ; Child of Impaired Parents*/psychology; Child ; Humans ; Adolescent ; Female ; Male ; Mental Health ; Parents/psychology ; Cohort Studies ; Risk Factors

Background: The relationship between parental suicide attempts and offspring suicide risk has been established. However, the impact of parental suicide attempts on mental health problems in offspring as youth remains unexplored. This study examined the prospective association between parental suicide attempts and offspring internalizing, externalizing, and attention/hyperactivity problems in childhood and adolescence. We also examined how offspring mental health problems in childhood mediated the association between parental suicide attempts and offspring mental health problems in adolescence.
Methods: A subsample of 6,381 (48.4% female) cohort members with complete data on mental health problems in childhood and adolescence was extracted from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 Study. Offspring mental health problems were assessed via teacher's Rutter B2 scale during the childhood assessment (child's age of 8) and the Youth Self-Report scale (child's age of 15/16). Information about first parental suicide attempts was collected using ICD codes from hospital discharge records.
Results: Lifetime parental suicide attempts during the study period (N = 95) were associated with offspring internalizing, externalizing, and attention/hyperactivity problems in adolescence. Parental suicide attempts before the childhood assessment (N = 55) were associated with offspring behavioral problems in childhood [B (95% CI) = .64 (0.08-1.28)]. In the mediation models, parental suicide attempts before the childhood assessment had a significant indirect effect on offspring externalizing [B (95% CI) = .03 (0.01-0.05)] and attention/hyperactivity problems [B (95% CI) = .02 (0.01-0.04)] in adolescence via offspring behavioral problems in childhood.
Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance of assessing and monitoring mental health problems in offspring whose parents have been hospitalized for attempting suicide. Among children with behavioral problems, clinicians should inquire about parental history of suicide attempts, as children with familial vulnerability to suicide may develop externalizing and attention/hyperactivity problems in adolescence.
(© 2022 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.)

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Keywords: Suicidal behavior; developmental epidemiology; family history; mental health

Date Created: 20221226 Date Completed: 20230515 Latest Revision: 20230610

20240628

10.1111/jcpp.13743

36567634