Adolescent Suicide Exposures: Consequences for Adulthood Violence Perpetration

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.