How Childhood and Youth Experiences Link to Suicide
By Diana Zuckerman, Ph.D.
More than 30,000 Americans commit suicide every year, and rates are especially high among the young and the old. New research shows that a child who has many very negative experiences can be 30 to 50 times as likely to attempt suicide as a youth or as an adult.The study is based on more than 17,000 adults who were patients at a primary care clinic in San Diego between 1995 and 1997 and who completed detailed questionnaires about negative experiences during their first 18 years of life, including abuse, neglect, domestic violence and family substance abuse. The average age was 56. Fifty-four percent of the patients were women and 75 percent were white. Most had at least some college education, while one in four had only a high school diploma or less.
Almost two out of three (64 percent) reported experience in at least one of the eight “adverse” childhood categories: emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, battered mother, household alcohol or drug abuse, mental illness in household, parental separation or divorce, or having an incarcerated household member.)
More than 5 percent of the women and 2 percent of the men reported having attempted suicide. The type of experience significantly affected the likelihood of a suicide attempt. Attempts increased by 100 percent for those whose parents had divorced or separated, or where there was substance abuse in the home; increased by approximately 150 percent for those with an incarcerated family member or battered mother; tripled for those who had a mentally ill relative in the house, or who experienced physical or sexual abuse; and were five times as high for those reporting emotional abuse.
One type of major childhood stress tends to cause other types of major stress, and the impact of these experiences on suicide attempts increased dramatically when there were several stresses. For example, reporting at least seven of these stresses increased the chances of a youth suicide attempt 51-fold and adult suicide attempts 30-fold.
The researchers admit that a shortcoming of this study is that it relied on adults reporting what happened to them many years ago as children. Other studies have found that adults tend to underreport childhood abuse, but it is also possible that adults who attempted suicide are more likely to recall bad experiences as children.
Reference:
Childhood Abuse, Household Dysfunction, and the Risk of Attempted Suicide Throughout the Life Span
Shanta R. Dube, M.P.H., Robert F. Anda, M.D., Vincent J Felitti, M.D. and colleagues.
Journal of the American Medical Association, December 26, 2001, Vol. 286, No. 24, pp. 3089-3095.
Available free from Ms. Dube, CDC, Division of Adult and Community Health, 4770 Buford Hwy NE, MS K-45, Atlanta, GA 30341,
or skd7@cdc.gov
These articles are based on Diana Zuckerman's monthly Research Watch columns that appeared in Youth Today in issues from November 1999 through November 2004, and were reprinted with permission. Youth Today is a publication of the American Youth Work Center, 1200 17th St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20036. (800) 599-2455. E-mail: youthtoday@aol.com.
