Perceived parental support in childhood and adolescence and suicidal ideation in young adults: a cross-sectional analysis of the i-Share study

Melissa Macalli,Ilaria Montagni,Sylvana M Côté,Cédric Galéra,Aicha Soumare,Marie Tournier,Christophe Tzourio

doi:10.1186/s12888-018-1957-7

Abstract

BackgroundSuicidal ideation and suicidal risk assessment are major concerns for health professionals. The perception of a low level of parental support is a risk factor for suicidal tendencies among adolescents, but little is known about its long-term impact on the vulnerability to suicidal behavior in young adults. We investigated whether the perceived level of parental support during childhood and adolescence was associated with current suicidal ideation in young adults.MethodsWe retrieved data collected in the i-Share study from February 1st, 2013 through January 30, 2017. This cross-sectional study included 10,015 French students, aged 18–24 years that completed an on-line self-reported questionnaire about suicidal ideation in the last 12 months and their perceived parental support in childhood and adolescence. We performed multinomial logistic regressions and sensitivity analyses to assess associations between the degree of perceived parental support and the frequency suicidal thoughts, after adjusting for the main known risk factors of suicidal ideation. We employed multiple imputations to account for missing data.ResultsThe study sample included 7539 female (75.7%) and 2436 male (24.3%) students (mean [SD] age 20.0 [1.8] years). About one in five students reported occasional suicidal thoughts (n = 1775, 17.7%) and 368 students (3.7%) reported frequent suicidal thoughts. The adjusted multinomial logistic regression revealed a significant negative association between perceived parental support and suicidal thoughts. A lack of perceived parental support in childhood and adolescence was associated with > 4-fold elevated risk of occasional (adjusted OR, 4.55; 95% CI: 2.97–6.99) and nearly 9-fold elevated risk of frequent (adjusted OR, 8.58; 95% CI: 4.62–15.96) suicidal thoughts, compared to individuals that perceived extremely strong parental support. This association was strongest among students with no personal history of depression or suicide attempts.ConclusionsStudents that perceived low levels of past parental support had a higher risk of suicidal ideation. Past perceived parental support appeared to be a potent marker of suicidal risk in young adults. This marker should be routinely collected in studies on suicidal risk in young adults, and it could be considered an additional screening tool.

Highlights

Suicidal ideation and suicidal risk assessment are major concerns for health professionals
When the model was tested after adding multiple imputations of non-response data, we found that the relative efficiency of the imputation on each of the variables was greater than 95%
We found that 20.5% of occasional and frequent suicidal thoughts could be attributed to an insufficient perceived parental support (PPS), which was the same percentage (20.5%) attributed to a personal history of depression or attempted suicide

Summary

Introduction

Suicidal ideation and suicidal risk assessment are major concerns for health professionals. The perception of a low level of parental support is a risk factor for suicidal tendencies among adolescents, but little is known about its long-term impact on the vulnerability to suicidal behavior in young adults. We investigated whether the perceived level of parental support during childhood and adolescence was associated with current suicidal ideation in young adults. The estimated prevalence of suicide ideation ranges from 6 to 12% among college students [4,5,6,7]. A recent meta-analysis pooled 36 college student cohorts (i.e., 634,662 students) and estimated that the 12-month prevalence of suicidal ideation was 10.6% (95% CI: 9.1–12.3). Suicidal ideation is common in young adults It is the first step on the pathway to suicide [5] and one of the main risk factors for suicide attempts and suicides [9,10,11]. Suicidal behaviors have been associated with exposure of children and adolescents to domestic violence or sexual abuse, family conflicts, parent loss, parental divorce or separation, and a family history of mood disorder or substance abuse [5, 13,14,15]

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