A pilot study of the effect of exposure to child abuse or neglect on adolescent suicidal behavior

Abstract

The authors designed a pilot study to test if exposure to child abuse or neglect is associated with suicidal behavior in adolescence. Each of 159 adolescents who had attempted suicide was age- and sex-matched with two comparison subjects who had been treated for medical conditions unrelated to suicide attempts. The registry of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services was searched for the names of the subjects and comparison subjects. For both sexes prior contact with the Department of Social Services was three to six times more likely for probands than for the comparison subjects.

Functional Alterations and Cerebral Variations in Humans Exposed to Early Life Stress

“…The suffering of adverse experiences in childhood has been associated with the subsequent emergence of multiple alterations in physical (65)(66)(67)(68)(69)(70) and mental health (71,72). Although psychiatric and behavioral disorders include those that could compromise the lives of people exposed to traumatic events in their childhood, practically all investigations found were undertaken in this century, except for one in 1985 (73) and another in 1999 (74). In this section, we will address some of the most significant behavioral changes and psychopathological implications reported in the literature.…”

“…The greatest number of investigations on psychiatric and behavioral disorders in people who have suffered some type of child maltreatment have addressed the population that exhibits suicidal ideation or suicidal attempts (10 of 25 articles in our review). Only one study focused on people with suicidal ideation (88), the rest were on those who presented suicide attempts (73,(89)(90)(91)(92)(93)(94)(95)(96). Sexual abuse appears to be the most common type of stressor experienced by participants with suicidal ideation or suicide attempts, as it was found to be associated in all the studies reviewed with this behavioral disorder.…”

“…Sexual abuse appears to be the most common type of stressor experienced by participants with suicidal ideation or suicide attempts, as it was found to be associated in all the studies reviewed with this behavioral disorder. In descending order, physical abuse was reported in seven out of 10 studies (88,(91)(92)(93)(94)(95)(96), emotional abuse was reported in five out of 10 studies (88,(93)(94)(95)(96), some type of neglect was reported in five out of 10 studies (73,88,(94)(95)(96), and some type of family dysfunction was reported in two out of 10 studies (93,94). Only one investigation evaluated exclusively abused women with a history of suicide attempts (92), and another evaluated suicide risk exclusively in abused older adults early in life (96).…”

“…Among the most important findings reported in studies that addressed the relationship between early stress and the subsequent emergence of suicidal ideation or attempt are the following: (A) Regardless of the type of early adverse experience, the risk of suicide increases between two and five times in adolescents and adults (93), and among those who entered the department of social services during their childhood, the suicide risk was three to six times higher (73). (B) Child sexual abuse appears to be a direct predictor of later suicidal ideation (88), and sexually abused individuals had a suicide rate between 10.7 and 13 times higher than the average rate of the general non-suicidal population (89).…”