Risk factors for adult interpersonal violence in suicide attempters

Abstract

BackgroundSuicidal and violent behaviours are interlinked and share common biological underpinnings. In the present study we analysed the association between violent behaviour as a child, childhood trauma, adult psychiatric illness, and substance abuse in relation to interpersonal violence as an adult in suicide attempters with mood disorders.MethodsA total of 161 suicide attempters were diagnosed with Structured Clinical Interviews and assessed with the Karolinska Interpersonal Violence Scale (KIVS) measuring exposure to violence and expressed violent behaviour in childhood (between 6-14 years of age) and during adult life (15 years or older). Ninety five healthy volunteers were used as a comparison group. A logistic regression analysis was conducted with the two KIVS subscales, expressed violent behaviour as a child and exposure to violence in childhood together with substance abuse, personality disorder diagnoses and age as possible predictors of adult interpersonal violence in suicide attempters.ResultsViolent behaviour as a child, age and substance abuse were significant predictors of adult interpersonal violence. ROC analysis for the prediction model for adult violence with the KIVS subscale expressed violence as a child gave an AUC of 0.79. Using two predictors: violent behaviour as a child and substance abuse diagnosis gave an AUC of 0.84. The optimal cut-off for the KIVS subscale expressed violence as a child was higher for male suicide attempters.ConclusionsViolent behaviour in childhood and substance abuse are important risk factors for adult interpersonal violent behaviour in suicide attempters.

Cues for different diagnostic patterns of interpersonal violence in a psychiatric sample: an observational study

“…Our results regarding the correlation between age and violence are consistent with other researches [2,6,12,15,17,19]. Using the KIVS, which distinguishes exposure to and expression of violence in childhood and adulthood, we demonstrated the strong, inverse correlation between age and both perpetration and victimization.…”

“…This finding is somewhat in line with that studies which more frequently found an association between victimization and diagnosis of mood disorders in females [6,9,27]. As regards perpetration of violence, we confirm that males are more likely than females to bully the peers and act aggressively in childhood [19,31,35,47,48]. On the other hand, we did not find a difference in expression of violence as an adult between genders, contrary to previous studies.…”

“…Moreover, it allows for use of composite scores of its subscales [32]. It has been used in several suicide research studies [19,[33][34][35][36] and in observational studies within clinical samples [32,[37][38][39]. In the current study, we used the four subscales and also used the composite scores of lifetime (from childhood to adulthood) expressed violence and exposure to violence.…”

“…Among the demographic variables connected to violence, age and gender have received the largest attention so far [17]. Literature consistently reports that young age is associated to high levels of violence in general, clinical, and forensic populations [2,6,7,11,12,[16][17][18][19][20]. On the other hand, the role of gender in IV is largely debated and controversial.…”

Suicide attempts in Brazil, 1998–2014: an ecological study

“…Previous suicide attempts and having relatives or acquaintances who attempted or committed suicide are also associated with suicidal behaviour [23]. Affective disorders are common in those who attempt suicide as are the comorbidities of substance abuse and personality disorders [24]. In addition, some environmental stressors, such as family breakdown, emotional neglect and sexual abuse during childhood, are also cited in the literature as risk factors for suicidal ideation and lifelong suicide attempts.…”