@article{ref1,
title="Suicide exposures and bereavement among American adults: evidence from the 2016 General Social Survey",
journal="Journal of affective disorders",
year="2017",
author="Feigelman, William and Cerel, Julie and McIntosh, John L. and Brent, David A. and Gutin, Nina",
volume="227",
number="",
pages="1-6",
abstract="BACKGROUND: We investigated lifetime suicide exposures and bereavement among a representative sample of American adults from the 2016 General Social Survey. <br><br>METHODS: Questions on lifetime suicide exposures, bereavement and mental health status were administered to 1432 respondents. Suicide exposed and bereaved respondents were compared to non-exposed respondents on three different measures of mental health functioning with cross tabulations and means comparison tests. <br><br>RESULTS: 51% of respondents had exposures to one suicide or more during their lifetimes, and 35% were deemed bereaved by suicide, having experienced moderate to severe emotional distress from their losses. <br><br>FINDINGS suggested more exposures and bereavements were associated with greater numbers of bad mental health days and more expectations of &quot;having nervous breakdowns&quot; but with no clear associations with CES-D scores. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest suicide exposures and bereavement are far more pervasive than commonly thought, with more than half of the population exposed and a third bereaved. Health professionals need to more actively assess for suicide exposures and bereavements, and be vigilant for significant impacts of suicide even when the suicide decedent is not a first degree family relative, helping to reduce the mental health distress presently associated with these experiences.<br><br>Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0165-0327",
doi="10.1016/j.jad.2017.09.056",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.09.056"
}