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Association of Parental Violent Offending with Offspring Suicidality: A Population Family-Based Study from Sweden

Thu, Nov 14, 8:00 to 9:20am, Salon 15 - Lower B2 Level

Abstract

Research has linked parental criminality to an increased risk of suicidal behavior in offspring, but possible moderators of the association and its underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. We conducted a longitudinal population-based study on the association between parental violent offending and offspring suicidal behavior with data from over three million children born in Sweden between 1963 and 2003 and their parents. Population-level analyses showed that parental violent offending was associated with an increased risk of suicidal behavior in offspring, with the highest risk in children whose parents were both convicted (HRs 1.79 and 2.46 in offspring with one and two convicted parents, respectively). In analyses stratified by parental psychiatric disorders, the absolute risk of suicidality was highest among those whose parent had both a violent conviction and a psychiatric diagnosis, but parental violent offending was also independently associated with an increased risk of offspring suicidality even in the absence of parental psychiatric illness. We further applied a genetically informative children-of-siblings design, with results suggesting that the association is partly due to genetic influences. Our results can help to identify groups at high risk of suicidal behavior and to target preventive actions.

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