Children who experience physical or sexual
abuse, or other adversities such as the death of a parent or family
violence, are at greater risk of suicide in later life, according
to new
research. And the greater the number of different adversities a
child experiences, the more they are at risk.
Researchers, writing in the July issue of the
British Journal of Psychiatry, describe childhood
adversities as a “powerful predictor” of suicidal behaviour.
The team, led by Dr Ronny Bruffaerts from
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, examined data from the
World Mental Health surveys carried out in 21 countries in Africa,
the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and the Middle
East.
More than 55,000 people from all 21 countries
were interviewed about their experiences during childhood. They
were asked if they had experienced any of the following adversities
before the age of 18: physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect,
parental death, parent divorce, other parental loss, family
violence, physical illness, and financial adversity.
The researchers found that many of the people
in the study had experienced adversity: 12% had experienced the
death of a parent, 8% had been the victim of physical abuse and 7%
of family violence.
Almost 3% of people interviewed said they had
attempted suicide, and 9% said they had thought about killing
themselves (known as suicide ideation). Among those who had tried
to kill themselves, nearly a third (29%) had been the victim of
physical abuse, one in four (25%) had experienced family violence,
and one in six (15%) had been sexually abused.
Dr Bruffaerts said: “We found that being
exposed to many different adversities during childhood increases
the risk of suicidal behaviour. Sexual or physical abuses during
childhood are particularly strong risk factors for the onset of
suicidal behaviour in adulthood. Even controlling for a broad set
of variables, there was at least a threefold increase in suicide
attempt and suicide ideation among people with a history of sexual
or physical abuse.”
Dr Bruffaerts concluded: “Across the world,
great emphasis is placed on the prevention of suicide. Our study
shows a direct association between the number of adversities a
person experiences in childhood and the risk of suicide. Therefore,
identifying those families at risk of problems, and offering help,
may be a way of decreasing suicide around the world.”
For further information, please
contact:
Liz Leicester
or Deborah Hart in the Communications
Department.
Telephone: 020 7235 2351 Extensions. 6298 or 6127
References:
Bruffaerts R, Demyttenaere K, Borges G, Haro JH, Chui WT, Hwang I, Karam EG, Kessler RC, Sampson N, Alonso J, Andrade LH, Angermeyer M, Benjet C, Bromet E, de Girolamo G, de Graaf R, Florescu S, Gureje O, Horiguchi I, Hu C, Kovess V, Levinson D, Posada-Villa J, Sagar R, Scott K, Tsang A, Vassilev SM, Williams DR and Nock MK (2010) Childhood adversities as risk factors for onset and persistence of suicidal behaviour, British Journal of Psychiatry, 197: 20-27