Mothers' Suicide Attempts Raise Risk in Teens

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Adolescent children of mothers who have attempted suicide are themselves at increased risk of doing the same thing, German research report.

Dr. Roselind Lieb, from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, and her associates followed a representative community sample of 933 teenagers, who were between 14 and 17 years old in 1995, along with their mothers.

As reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the subjects were assessed at the beginning of the study and approximately 4 years later for general health problems. They were also specifically asked about suicidal thinking during their lifetimes.

Suicidal ideation without attempts was reported by 31.9 percent of mothers and 31.6 percent of offspring, and corresponding rates of actual suicide attempts were 2.3 percent and 5.0 percent.

Upon analysis, the likelihood of suicidal ideation was about five times higher among the children of mothers who had attempted suicide, while the rate of suicide attempts was nine times higher.

Furthermore, the team reports, "There was a tendency toward the occurrence of a suicide attempt at an earlier age in the offspring of the mothers who attempted suicide compared to the offspring of mothers without suicidality."

Information on fathers was not available, but Lieb's group believes that the elevated risk in offspring is probably not restricted to attempted suicide by mothers.

They also note that, while it's possible that imitation may at least partially explain their findings, other studies do not support this notion.

"Our results provided no evidence against the hypothesis of suicidality running in families," the researchers conclude.

SOURCE: American Journal of Psychiatry, September 2005.