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Abstract #150051

Jeffrey E. Hall, PhD, MSPH, National Center For Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway NE, Mailstop F-64, Atlanta, GA 30341-3724, 770-488-4648, jhall2@cdc.gov and Alexander Crosby, MD, MPH, NCIPC, DVP, CDC, 2939 Flowers Road South, Mailstop K-60, Koger Center, Vanderbilt Building, Atlanta, GA 30341.

Background: Longitudinal research on suicide exposures (i.e., suicidal ideation, personal-attempts to commit suicide, and suicide attempts or deaths by friends or relatives) has mainly focused on associations of exposure types with subsequent psychopathology, suicide attempts, and suicide deaths. Consequently, less is known about the long-term implications of exposure type for other outcomes. This study describes the association between various types of suicide-related exposure experienced during adolescence and fighting and weapons-related violence perpetration during adulthood.

Methods: Analyses utilized data from 14,322 persons who participated in waves I (ages 12-20) and III (ages 18-26) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Hierarchical OLS regressions were used to identify suicide exposures associated with adulthood violence perpetration after adjustment for demographic characteristics, baseline violence perpetration, and other potential confounders. These regressions were stratified by gender.

Results: Among females, suicide exposures significantly (p<.01) associated with the level of adulthood violence perpetration included expression of suicidal ideation, having attempted suicide, and exposure to the suicide attempt of a friend; among males, these included exposures to a friend's attempt and having a friend who died as a result of suicide.

Conclusion: Certain adolescent suicide exposures are predictive of adulthood violence perpetration, although the specific predictors differ by gender. Additional research on how the psychological and social consequences of suicide exposure may contribute to subsequent risk for violence and the subgroups of exposed individuals that are most vulnerable is needed to inform the development of prevention strategies that address the linkages between interpersonal and self-directed violence.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the consequences of adolescent suicide exposures for the levels of violence perpetrated during adulthood.
• Compare the effects of different suicide exposures across gender.

Keywords: Suicide, Zidovudine

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.