Depressed Parents’ Attachment

Abstract

Objective To investigate relationships of depressed parents' attachment style to offspring suicidal behavior. Method 244 parents diagnosed with a DSM-IV depressive episode completed the Adult Attachment Questionnaire at study entry. Baseline and yearly follow-up interviews of their 488 offspring tracked suicidal behavior and psychopathology. Survival analysis and marginal regression models with correlated errors for siblings investigated the relationship between parent insecure attachment traits and offspring characteristics. Data analyzed were collected 1992–2008 during a longitudinal family study completed January 31, 2014. Results Parent avoidant attachment predicted offspring suicide attempts at a trend level (p=0.083). Parent anxious attachment did not predict offspring attempts (p=0.961). In secondary analyses, anxious attachment in parents was associated with offspring impulsivity (p=0.034), and in offspring suicide attempters, was associated with greater intent (p=0.045) and lethality of attempts (p=0.003). Avoidant attachment in parents was associated with offspring impulsivity (p=0.025) and major depressive disorder (p=0.012). Parent avoidant attachment predicted a greater number of suicide attempts (p=0.048) and greater intent in offspring attempters (p=0.003). Results were comparable after adjusting for parent diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Conclusion Insecure avoidant, but not anxious, attachment in depressed parents may predict offspring suicide attempt. Insecure parent attachment traits were associated with impulsivity and major depressive disorder in all offspring, and with more severe suicidal behavior in offspring attempters. Insecure parental attachment merits further study as a potential target to reduce risk of offspring psychopathology and more severe suicidal behavior.

Systematic Literature Review of Attempted Suicide and Offspring

“…Furthermore, insecure parental attachment merits further study investigation as a potential target in order to reduce the risk of children’s psychopathology and suicidal behavior [ 55 ].…”

“…Of these, 68 were excluded as they pertained to bereavement support/intervention in parent’s suicide ( n = 2) [ 33 , 34 ], interventions for adolescents ( n = 8) [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ], transmission and risk of suicidal behavior and other problems ( n = 22) [ 1 , 11 , 12 , 16 , 17 , 19 , 25 , 28 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 ], other reasons ( n = 15) [ 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 ], family member’s experiences ( n = 9) [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 72 , 73 ...…”

Comparison of Childhood Traumatic Experience and Attachment Styles among Patients in Suicide Attempts with Drugs and the Healthy Control Group

“…There is an increasing risk of behavior problems associated with suicide at advanced ages, especially in the children of depressive mothers (Bridge, Goldstein, & Brent, 2006;Hammertoni et. al., 2015;MacGregor et. al., 2014).…”

Parental psychopathology, adult attachment and risk of 12-month suicidal behaviours

“…Parental history of admission to a psychiatric hospital has also been found to be a strong predictor of suicidality in their adolescent and young adult offspring (Beautrais, 2002;Fergusson and Lynskey, 1995;Hawton et al, 2002;Stenager and Qin, 2008). Furthermore, research shows familial clustering of suicidal behaviours (MacGregor et al, 2014), with a greater attributable risk evident for families with a combined history of death by suicide and psychiatric illness compared to families with a psychiatric illness only (Agerbo et al, 2002;Qin et al, 2002;Stenager and Qin, 2008).…”