Parental violent offending and offspring suicidal behavior: A nationwide register-based study from Sweden

• In Event: Implications of psychological and biological factors for personal and criminal justice outcomes and experiences

Abstract

Research has linked parental offending with a number of adversities in the offspring, including poor physical and mental health. While the overall picture of health and wellbeing of children of offending parents is becoming clearer, knowledge of more specific outcomes such as suicidal behavior is more limited. We conducted a longitudinal population study on the association between parental violent offending and offspring suicidal behavior. The study population consisted of over three million children born in Sweden between 1963 and 2003, and their parents. We first studied the association at the population level and found that parental violent convictions were associated with an increased risk for offspring suicidal behavior, with the highest risk in children whose both parents had been convicted (HRs 1.81 and 2.59 in offspring with one and two convicted parents, respectively). To examine the role of family history of mental disorders, we further conducted analyses stratified by parental psychiatric disorders. We found that the risk of suicidal behavior was highest among those whose parent had both a violent conviction and a psychiatric diagnosis, but parental violent offending was associated with offspring suicidality even when the parent had no history of psychiatric illness. Finally, to examine the role of familial factors in the intergenerational association, we 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 elevated risk of suicide. A better understanding of the underlying mechanisms is essential for the development and implementation of preventive actions.

Authors

• Aurora Järvinen, Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy, University of Helsinki, Finland

• Antti Latvala, University of Helsinki

• Ralf Kuja-Halkola, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

• Paul Lichtenstein, Karolinska Institute