Abstract
BACKGROUND: Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) constitute a central public health concern in adolescence. Previous studies emphasized the difficulty to cope with negative life events during adolescence as a risk factor for STB. Familial and genetic liability has also been documented to explain STB risk. Nevertheless, less is known about aggregate genetic liability and its possible interaction with negative life events. Moreover, information is needed to understand how these factors differently affect STB in boys and girls.
METHODS: We evaluated suicidal ideation at 17 years old and examined the role of aggregate genetic liability, negative life events, and their interaction in a sample of 2,571 adolescents. Aggregate genetic liability was measured using a polygenic score (PGS) for suicide attempts. Negative life events were assessed in the past year and included parental divorce and hospitalizations, death of friends and relatives, bullying, failure-related events, and involvement with drugs. We conducted univariable and multivariable general linear models stratified by sex and evaluated the interactions between PGS and negative life events in subsequent models.
RESULTS: Analyses showed that suicidal ideation in boys is associated with failure to achieve something important (estimate = 0.198), bullying (estimate = 0.285), drug use (estimate = 0.325), and parental death (estimate = 0.923). In girls, both aggregate genetic liability (estimate = 0.041) and negative life events (failure at school [estimate = 0.120], failure to achieve something important [estimate = 0.279], drug use [estimate = 0.395], and bullying [estimate = 0.472]) were associated with suicidal ideation. Interaction analyses suggested that PGS interacted with drug use and failures at school, though this would need additional support.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings represent significant contributions to the fundamental understanding of STB in adolescence, suggesting to monitor the impact of negative life events during adolescence to better prevent suicide risk. Genetic liability is also of importance in girls and might influence the way they respond to environmental threats.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1164-1173 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Early online date | 29 Jun 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 19 Sept 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The UK Medical Research Council and Wellcome (Grant ref: 217065/Z/19/Z) and the University of Bristol provide core support for ALSPAC. This publication is the work of the authors and Séverine Lannoy and Alexis C. Edwards will serve as guarantors for the contents of this paper. This study was supported by NIH grants (NIH AA027522, MH129356). B.M. is also supported by a Medical Research Foundation Fellowship (MRF‐058‐0017‐F‐MARS‐C0869). The authors have declared that they have no competing or potential conflicts of interest. Key points
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
Research Groups and Themes
- SASH
- ALSPAC
Keywords
- ALSPAC
- suicidality
- genes
- polygenic
- environment
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This is the final published version of the article (version of record). It first appeared online via Wiley at https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13653 . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.