Suicidality in the prospective Zurich study: prevalence, risk factors and gender

Abstract

Our prospective Zurich study found that suicidal ideation had occurred in 40.5 % and suicide attempts in 6.6 % of the population by age 50. Important gender differences were found in both suicidality and its risk factors. Suicide attempts were earlier and more frequent among women than among men: 70 versus 44 % reported their first suicide attempt before 20. For women, the relative risk of suicide attempts was 1.6, but the relative risk of suicidal ideation was about equal (1.1 for women). The main risk factors for suicidal ideation in women were low social support (OR 4.0) and frequent punishment in childhood (OR 3.7), and in men, a depressive (OR 6.5) and an anxious personality (OR 4.6). The main risk factors for suicide attempts in women were a broken home (OR 10.2) and sexual abuse/violence (OR 7.9) in childhood; in men, no multivariate analyses of suicide attempt were conducted because of insufficient statistical power. AbstractOur prospective Zurich Study found that suicidal ideation had occurred in 40.5%and suicide attempts in 6.6% of the population by age 50. Important gender differences were found in both suicidality and its risk factors. Suicide attempts were earlier and more frequent among women than among men: 70% vs 44% reported their first suicide attempt before 20.For women the relative risk of suicide attempts was 1.6, but the relative risk of suicidal ideation was about equal (1.1 for women). The main risk factors for suicidal ideation in women were low social support (OR=4.0) and frequent punishment in childhood (OR=3.7), and in men a depressive (OR=6.5) and an anxious personality (OR=4.6). The main risk factors for suicide attempts in women were a broken home (OR=10.2) and sexual abuse/violence (OR=7.9) in childhood; in men no multivariate analyses of suicide attempt were conducted because of insufficient statistical power.

Gender differences in one‐year outcomes of first‐presentation psychosis patients in inner‐city UK Early Intervention Services

“…A consistent pattern of parasuicidal behaviour has previously been found in women and has been suggested to be due to the presence of affective symptoms, self‐esteem or even level of insight . Furthermore, women have been shown to attempt suicide at an earlier age than men, which fits with the gender difference in our young adult sample. In spite of referral to EIS, men were still more violent against others than women during the first year of EIS care.…”

A study on the association of psychiatric diagnoses and childhood adversities with suicide risk

“…Contrary to several previous studies [9,16,43,44], sexual abuse was not associated with suicide risk in the present study. However, in a prospective cohort of street youth, it was found that physical abuse, emotional abuse, and emotional neglect, but not sexual abuse, associated with suicide attempts in adjusted analyses [45].…”

Suicidal thoughts and attempts in First Nations communities: links to parental Indian residential school attendance across development

“…In non-Indigenous samples, sex differences have been reported in relation to the links between various types of childhood adversity and mental health outcomes in adulthood. 43,44 However, in some studies suicidality was more likely to be associated with childhood environmental risk factors in females, 45 whereas in other studies a greater association occurred in males. 46 Cultural factors and the local context also moderate the influence of sex on various health and social outcomes, 5,6 and may explain some of these disparate results across populations.…”