Parental Death in Childhood Increases Risk of Suicide: Study

Losing a loved one is one of the saddest moments in the life of a person. Losing one's parents during childhood, however, has been found by a study so be associated with a higher long-term risk for suicide, well into adulthood.

The study, published online in JAMA Psychiatry, observed the long-term effects of parental death in the lives of more than 189,000 Scandinavian children for 40 years. These children experienced the loss of a parent before they reached 18. Their data was compared to those who did not experience the loss of a parent.

It was found that although the overall suicide risk for those who lost a parent in childhood and for those who did not was very low, those who lost a parent in childhood were two times more likely to commit suicide than those who did not lose a parent – at 0.14 percent versus 0.07 percent, respectively.

Additionally, boys were found to be more affected than girls. Over 25 years, four in 1,000 males who lost a parent in childhood were likely to commit suicide, compared to two in 1,000 females who lost a parent that were likely to commit suicide.

The risk for suicide was high among those whose parents died of suicide and also for those whose parents died of other causes.

“Parental death during childhood was associated with a long-lasting increased risk of suicide among offspring who had a parent who died of suicide or other causes,” the researchers wrote. “The underlying causal mechanism may be attributed to shared genetic dispositions, environmental factors, social changes and psychological stress originating from early-life conditions.”

In Western societies, three to four percent of children experience the death of a parent, and it is one of the saddest moments in childhood. While other children adapt to the loss, others develop social and psychological problems that can be prevented.

“Preventive efforts are challenging because of the highly complex interactions among family members and the long-term risk profiles observed among offspring,” wrote the researchers. “Our study points to the early mitigation of distress to reduce the risk of suicidal behavior among children who had a parent who died during their childhood.”

In reviewing the data, one U.S. expert stressed that the overall rate of suicide remains low.

"In practical terms, losing a parent does not mean that a person is destined to [die by] suicide -- this is obvious but it's worth stating," Dr. George Bonanno, director of the Teachers College Resilience Center for Veterans & Families at Columbia University in New York City, told HealthDay. "There is increased risk, but suicide is still rare."