Association between alcohol abuse, childhood adverse events and suicide
Abstract
Background: Negative life events present a risk for suicidal behaviour. The occurrence of suicidal behaviour also depends on type of negative life events, time of their appearance and the support person has in their environment, and can be part of a process triggered by a stressful event. the aim of the study was to investigate adverse childhood events, parental alcoholism and alcohol abuse in association with suicidal behaviour of suicide victims.
Methods: A case-control study was conducted involving 90 individuals from Slovenian population who committed suicide and 90 age-sex matched controls drawn from the living population. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews with key informants by the principles of psychological autopsy.
Results: Alcohol abuse was reported more ofen for suicide victims than for controls. The same was true for severe deprivation in childhood and alcoholism of one or both parents. Differences between groups in separation from one or both parents, death of one or both parents, reported parental divorce in childhood or sexual abuse in childhood were not observed.
Conclusions: We should conclude that negative events in childhood and alcohol abuse in adulthood of suicide victims could be related to suicidal behaviour in population with higher suicide rate. When planning measures for the prevention of suicidal behaviour, adverse events in childhood and alcohol abuse should not be neglected to plan measures to prevent such events accordingly and to raise awareness about the dangers of alcohol abuse for suicidal behaviour.
Downloads
References
Nrugham L, Holen A, Sund AM. Associations between attempted suicide, violent life events, depressive symptoms, and resilience in adolescents and young adults. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2010;198(2):131–6.
Blaauw E, Arensman E, Kraaij V, Winkel FW, Bout R. Traumatic life events and suicide risk among jail inmates: the influence of types of events, time period and significant others. J Trauma Stress. 2002;15(1):9–16.
Dube SR, Anda RF, Felitti VJ, Chapman DP, Williamson DF, Giles WH. Childhood abuse, household dysfunction, and the risk of attempted suicide throughout the life span: findings from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. JAMA. 2001;286(24):3089–96.
Anda RF, Whitfeld CL, Felitti VJ, Chapman D, Edwards VJ, Dube SR, et al. Adverse Childhood Experiences, Alcoholic Parents, and Later Risk of Alcoholism and Depression. Psychiatr Serv. 2002;53(8):1001–9.
Martin G, Bergen H, Richardson A, Roeger L in Allison S. Sexual abuse and suicidality: gender differences in a large community sample of adolescents. Child Abuse Negl. 2004;28(5):491–503.
Felitti VJ, Anda RF, Nordenberg D, Williamson DF, Spitz AM, Edwards V, et al. Te relationship of adult health status to childhood abuse and household dysfunction. Am J Prev Med. 1998;14(4):245–58.
Anda RF, Crof JB, Felitti VJ, Nordenberg D, Giles WH, Williamson DF, et al. Adverse childhood experiences and smoking during adolescence and adulthood. JAMA. 1999;282(17):1652–8.
Fox KM, Gilbert B. Te interpersonal and psychological functioning of women who experienced childhood physical abuse, incest, and parental alcoholism. Child Abuse Negl. 1994;18(10):849–58.
McCloskey LA, Figueredo AJ, Koss MP. The effects of systemic family violence on children’s mental health. Child Dev. 1995;66(5):1239–61.
Wolock I, Magura S. Parental substance abuse as a predictor of child maltreatment. Child Abuse Negl. 1996;20(12):1183–93.
Brent DA, Moritz G, Liotus L, Schweers J, Balach L, Roth C, et al. Familial risk factors for adolescent suicide: a case-control study. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1994;89(1):52–8.
West MO, Prinz RJ. Parental alcoholism and childhood psychopathology. Psychol Bull. 1987;102(2):204–18.
Henderson MC, Albright JS, Kalichman SC, Dugoni B. Personality characteristics of young adult offspring of substance abusers: a study highlighting methodologic issues. J Pers Assess. 1994;63(1):117–34.
Steinhausen HC. Children of alcoholic parents: a review. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1995;4(3):143–52.
Brown GK, Beck AT, Steer RA, Grisham JR. Risk factors for suicide in psychiatric outpatients: a 20-year prospective study. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2000;68(3):371–7.
Landheim AS, Bakken K, Vaglum P. What characterizes substance abusers who commit suicide attempts? Factors related to Axis I disorders and patterns of substance use disorders. A study of treatment-seeking substance abusers in Norway. Eur Addict Res. 2006;12(2):102–8.
Marusic A. Suicide mortality in Slovenia. Regional variation. Crisis. 1998;19(14):159–66.
Statistical Ofce of Republic of Slovenia (2011) [cited 2015.09.22]. Available from: http://www.stat.si/.
Zupanc T, Pregelj P, Tomori M, Komel R, Paska AV. TPH2 polymorphisms and alcohol-related suicide. Neurosci Lett. 2010;490 (1):78–81.
Pregelj P, Nedic G, Paska AV, Zupanc T, Nikolac M, Balažic J, et al. Te association between brain-derived neurotrophic factor polymorphism (BDNF Val66Met) and suicide. J Affect Disord. 2011;128(3):287–90.
Suicide: Psychological autopsy, a research tool for prevention. In: INSERM Collective Expert Reports. Paris: Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale; 2005.
Zupanc T, Pregelj P, Tomori M, Komel R, Paska AV. No association between polymorphisms in four serotonin receptor genes, serotonin transporter gene and alcohol-related suicide. Psychiatr Danub. 2009;22(4):522–7.
Cnossen S. Alcohol taxation and regulation in the European Union. Int Tax Public Finance. 2007;14(6):699–732.
Kendall RE. Alcohol and suicide. Subst Alcohol Actions Misuse. 2009;22(4):522–7.
Gladstone GL, Parker GB, Mitchell PB, Malhi GS, Wilhelm K, Austin MP. Implications of childhood trauma for depressed women: an analysis of pathways from childhood sexual abuse to deliberate self-harm and revictimisation. Am J Psychiatry. 2004;161(8):1417–25.
Hill J, Pickles A, Burnside E, Byatt M, Rollinson L, Davis R, et al. Child sexual abuse, poor parental care and adult depression: evidence for different mechanisms. Br J Psychiatry. 2001;179:104–9.
Nomura Y, Wickramaratne PJ, Warner V, Mufson L, Weissman MM. Family discord, parental depression, and psychopathology in offspring: ten-year follow-up. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2002;418(4):402–9.
Kendler KS, Gardner CO, Prescott CA. Toward a comprehensive developmental model for major depression in women. Am J Psychiatry. 2002;159(7):1133–45.
Weich S, Patterson J, Shaw R, Stewart-Brown S. Family relationships in childhood and common psychiatric disorders in later life: systematic review of prospective studies. Br J Psychiatry. 2009;194(5):392–8.
Lizardi D, Tompson RG, Keyes K, Hasin D. The role of depression in the differential effect of childhood parental divorce on male and female adult offspring suicide attempt risk. J Nerv Ment Dis. 1983;4(2–3):121–7.
Martin G, Bergen H, Richardson A, Roeger L, Allison S. Sexual abuse and suicidality: gender differences in a large community sample of adolescents. Child Abuse Negl. 2004;28(5):491–503.
Zhang J, Xiao S, Zhou L. Mental disorders and suicide among young rural Chinese: a case-control psychological autopsy study. Am J Psychiatry. 2010;167(7):773–81.
Mann JJ, Apter A, Bertolote J, Beautrais A, Currier D, Haas A, et al. Suicide prevention strategies: a systematic review. JAMA. 2005;294(16):2064–74.
Copyright (c) 2017 Slovenian Medical Journal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The Author transfers to the Publisher (Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal) all economic copyrights following form Article 22 of the Slovene Copyright and Related Rights Act (ZASP), including the right of reproduction, the right of distribution, the rental right, the right of public performance, the right of public transmission, the right of public communication by means of phonograms and videograms, the right of public presentation, the right of broadcasting, the right of rebroadcasting, the right of secondary broadcasting, the right of communication to the public, the right of transformation, the right of audiovisual adaptation and all other rights of the author according to ZASP.
The aforementioned rights are transferred non-exclusively, for an unlimited number of editions, for the term of the statutory
The Author can make use of his work himself or transfer subjective rights to others only after 3 months from date of first publishing in the journal Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal.
The Publisher (Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal) has the right to transfer the rights, acquired parties without explicit consent of the Author.
The Author consents that the Article be published under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 (attribution-non-commercial) or comparable licence.
