Birth month and suicidal and depressive symptoms in Australians born in the Southern vs. the Northern hemisphere

Joiner, Thomas E.; Pfaff, Jon J.; Acres, John; Johnson, Frank A.

doi:10.1016/s0165-1781(02)00183-x

Cited by 42 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Our finding seems to be divergent from earlier studies that indicate a peak in spring births among adult subjects with self-reported suicidality [12] , hospitalizations due to DSH [4] or committed suicides [3,11] . However, none of the earlier studies has specifically focused on adolescents or exclusively on SMB, which is described to differ from other forms of suicidal behavior on the basis of having low lethality, being repetitive and lacking the intent to die [14] .…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…Thus far earlier results indicate a peak in spring births among adult subjects with suicidal behavior [3,4,11,12] . Since 'cutting and piercing' was classified as a low case fatal method in the study by Rock et al [4] and since according to Chotai and Salander Renberg [13] the season of birth effect for suicidal behavior could be associated with seasonal variation in temperament indices including impulsiveness, a peak in spring births among subjects with highly impulsive SMB [5,10,14] would be expectable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

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Birth during Autumn Is a Risk for Adolescent Self-Mutilative Behavior

2007

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Background: A season of birth tendency has been shown for several psychiatric disorders and suicidal behavior. Our aim was to examine the association between season of birth and self-mutilative behavior (SMB) among adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Methods: The study sample consisted of 508 (40.9% males) 12- to 17-year-old adolescents consecutively admitted to the Department of Psychiatry of Oulu University Hospital, Finland, between April 2001 and May 2006. The birth month of each adolescent was categorized into one of the four seasons: spring (March–May), summer (June–August), autumn (September–November) or winter (December–February). The information on SMB was based on the K-SADS-PL interview, which included an item on nonsuicidal physical self-damaging acts without intent to die. A total of 144 adolescents (27 males, 117 females) met the criteria for SMB. The association between season of birth and SMB was assessed with a logistic regression analysis after controlling for each adolescent’s age, previous suicide attempts and DSM-IV-diagnosed psychiatric disorders. Results: The monthly distribution of births of adolescents with SMB differed statistically significantly from that observed in the general population of the same age. An association between season of birth and SMB was seen in girls, but not in boys. The likelihood for SMB was significantly increased (adjusted OR 2.9; 95% CI 1.4–6.2) among girls born in autumn compared to those born in winter. Conclusions: Birth during autumn may predispose girls to SMB via dysfunctional serotonergic or other neurotransmitter systems. These findings may also be related to seasonal rhythms in parental mood and poor early care of the offspring.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Birth during Autumn Is a Risk for Adolescent Self-Mutilative Behavior

2007

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“…Therefore, the results of our study may not reflect the situation of students better. There are studies showing that there is a relationship between birth month and depressive symptoms [33,34]. However in our study, there was no significant association between depressive symptoms and birth month.…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 87%

Depressive Symptom Prevalence and Risk Factors in Eastern Turkish University Students

Kıvrak¹

2016

Ann Clin Anal Med

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“…Similarly, month of birth, reflecting differing early developmental conditions experienced by individuals born during different months of the year, is related to mortality rates in early adulthood (Moore et al 1997), final height (Weber et al 1998) and overall longevity (Doblhammer & Vaupel 2001;Gavrilov & Gavrilova 2003). Furthermore, month of birth has been shown to be linked to a range of diverse outcomes in both modern Western and more traditional societies, including mental health problems (Kinney et al 2000;Joiner et al 2002), diabetes (e.g. Fichera et al 2001), eating disorders (Eagles et al 2001), breast cancer (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Month of birth predicted reproductive success and fitness in pre-modern Canadian women

Lummaa

Tremblay

2003

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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Conditions experienced during early development affect human health and survival in adulthood, but whether such effects have consequences for fitness is not known. One surrogate for early conditions is month of birth, which is known to influence health and survival in many human populations. We show that in nineteenth century Canada, month of birth predicted a woman's fitness measured by the number of grandchildren produced, with the genetic contribution to the following generations by women born in different months differing by over seven grandchildren. This difference was mainly caused by differences in the reproductive rates of both mothers and their offspring, rather than differences in their survival. Women born in the best months of the year had longer reproductive lifespans, larger numbers of live births and raised more offspring to adulthood than those who were born in the worst months. Furthermore, the offspring of those women born in the best months also had greater reproductive rates, suggesting that month of birth also influenced a mother's ability to invest in her offspring. Our results suggest that early conditions may have important consequences for human lifetime reproductive performance within and between generations, and that timing of birth had large effects on fitness in this rural community.

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Birth month and suicidal and depressive symptoms in Australians born in the Southern vs. the Northern hemisphere

Cited by 42 publications

References 10 publications

Birth during Autumn Is a Risk for Adolescent Self-Mutilative Behavior

Birth during Autumn Is a Risk for Adolescent Self-Mutilative Behavior

Depressive Symptom Prevalence and Risk Factors in Eastern Turkish University Students

Month of birth predicted reproductive success and fitness in pre-modern Canadian women

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