Citation

Choi NG, Dinitto DM, Marti CN, Segal SP. Child Abuse Negl. 2017; 69: 252-262.

Affiliation

Univeristy of California at Berkeley School of Social Welfare, 120 Haviland Hall #7400, Berkeley, CA 94720-7400, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.04.024

PMID

28500922

Abstract

Using the 2012-2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions data, we examined the associations of ten types of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) with (1) lifetime suicide attempts and (2) number and age of attempts among U.S. adults aged 18+. In a case-control design, suicide attempters (5.14% of the full sample) were matched with never attempters (matched sample N=3912) on nine mental and substance use disorders. ACE rates were higher among attempters (3.30 [SE=0.07]) than their matched controls (2.19 [SE=0.06]).

RESULTS from multivariable logistic regression analyses showed that sexual abuse and parental/other family member's mental illness were associated with increased odds of having attempted suicide among both genders, and emotional neglect was also a factor for men. Population attributable risk fractions for sexual abuse were 25.75% for women and 8.56% for men. Sexual abuse and a higher number of ACEs were also related to repeated suicide attempts. A higher number of ACEs was associated with a younger first attempt age. Gay/bisexual orientation in men and the lack of college education in both genders were significant covariates. In conclusion, this study underscores that ACEs are significantly associated with lifetime suicide attempts even when mental and substance use disorders are controlled.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Adverse childhood experiences; Mental disorders; Sexual abuse; Substance use disorders; Suicide attempts