Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Thinking and Doing Prevention: A Critical Analysis of Contemporary Youth Crime and Suicide Prevention Discourses
Thinking and Doing Prevention: A Critical Analysis of Contemporary Youth Crime and Suicide Prevention Discourses
ARTICLE 2
Adolescent Suicide Risk and Peer-Related Violent Behaviors and
Victimization
WILLIAM P. EVANS, RICARDO M. MARTE, SHERRY BETTS,
BENJAMIN SILLIMAN
This exploratory study seeks to better understand the link between peer-related violence
(perpetration and victimization) and suicide risk among youth. The study uses data gathered
from Arizona, Nevada, and Wyoming, where the highest rates of adolescent suicide in the
United States are found. The data derive from in-school surveys of eighth-grade students
conducted during 1998 and 1999. Higher levels of reported suicide risk were prominent
among the multiethnic, urban, and female respondents. Male and female respondents who
perpetrated violence by initiating fights, threatening to use weapons, and using weapons to
assault others were more likely to be classified in the high-risk suicide group than those who
did not. General results were similar for victims and those witnessing violence. Implications
for prevention programming and future research are discussed
ARTICLE 3
In this large, longitudinal, total population study with decades of follow-up, parental mode of death and offspring's
age at the time of parental death both moderated risk for suicide among offspring. Consistent with a prior study
using Danish registers,8 parental suicide was linked to increased risk for offspring suicide. However, offspring of
suicide decedents less than age 26 (all ages combined) were at greater risk for suicide than offspring of alive
parents, whereas offspring of accident decedents and other parental death were not at increased risk. The risk
for offspring suicide also differed by the developmental period during which parental suicide occurred. Offspring
who were children or adolescents at the time of parental suicide were at increased risk for suicide, whereas
offspring who were young adults at the time of parental suicide were not at increased risk. Child offspring of
accident decedents (but not adolescents or young adults) were also at increased risk for suicide, which reflects
the importance of parental loss during this developmental period for some modes of parental death. Offspring of
parents who died of other causes were not at increased risk for suicide.
In general, offspring who experienced parental death had greater risk of hospitalization for all types of psychiatric
disorders and suicide attempts than offspring of alive parents (IRR = 1.3 to 1.9). The link between parental death
and adverse offspring outcomes remained robust after adjusting for parental psychiatric problems severe enough
to warrant hospitalization as well as parental criminal convictions. In addition, for offspring ages 0 to 25 years
combined, the risk of hospitalization for suicide attempt, depressive, psychotic and personality disorders (but not
drug or alcohol use disorders) varied by mode of parental death as offspring of parental suicide had an especially
high risk. Among those who lost a parent to suicide, child survivors were at particularly high risk for
hospitalization for drug use disorders and psychosis than were older age groups. All offspring who experienced
parental death, regardless of mode or age, were at increased risk for violent criminal convictions, as compared
Because the potency of exposure to parental suicide as a risk factor strongly depends on the age at exposure, it
is unlikely to be a marker of merely genetic vulnerability, but environmental, developmental or due to gene–
environment interaction. In terms of social and environmental factors, parental death results in post-death family
stressors and more extensive changes in caretaking routines for younger children that may influence offspring's
psychosocial outcomes. According to Shonkoff et al,24 adversities in childhood, in this instance parental suicide
and accident, create biological “memories” that can weaken regulatory physiological systems and increase
vulnerability to later morbidity and mortality. Early-onset, and thereby potentially more severe, psychiatric
disorder and associated suicide in parents may be linked with early onset psychopathology and greater genetic
liability for psychiatric disorder in offspring. However, in our analyses, we adjusted for parental psychiatric
admissions.
We expected offspring of parental death to be at greater risk for violent criminal conviction because the death of
a parent is often associated with socioeconomic disruption and less care or supervision,25 which are both known
risk factors for antisocial behavior. In addition, we expected offspring of suicide decedents to be at greater risk for
violent criminal conviction because impulsive–aggressive traits run in families affected by suicide.20 Our results
suggested that although parental death was associated with higher risk for criminal conviction in offspring, the
risk was not related to any specific mode of parental death. This could suggest that impulsive aggressive traits
are linked less strongly to suicide than previously suggested.26 However, violent criminal convictions measure
This study had several strengths. The study population was several times larger than in any previous cohort
study on this topic. We are the only research group that has had a sample large enough to stratify by mode of
parental death as well as the offspring's developmental period at the time of parental death. The long follow-up
period allowed us to examine the development of outcomes over several decades. For example, previous studies
with short-term follow-up reported more similarities between offspring whose parents died from suicide and other
causes.6, 9, 27, 28, 29 This study suggests that offspring groups based on mode of parental death diverge over time,
with offspring of suicide decedents at greater risk for suicide and psychiatric hospitalization for some disorders
than offspring who lost a parent by other means. Nested case–control studies have examined only the risk for
offspring suicide and bipolar disorder in relation to parental suicide.7, 8 However, this retrospective cohort study
examined a broad spectrum of psychiatric outcomes and found that mode of death was related to certain
outcomes. We adjusted for potentially confounding psychiatric morbidity and criminal history in both parents, and
minimized ascertainment bias by using compulsory, longitudinal national registers for predictors, covariates
Nevertheless, the findings should be interpreted in light of certain limitations. Because the registers include only
inpatient treatment, we could not examine psychiatric problems that were untreated, treated at outpatient facilities
or occurred before 1973. Generalizability might be limited to primarily Caucasian populations with at least
moderate socioeconomic status and access to universal health care. We excluded offspring with an inpatient
psychiatric admission before parental death and offspring without a surviving biological parent. These exclusions
likely yielded more conservative estimates of offspring risk because those excluded may be more vulnerable to
the impact of parental death.30 We did not exclude homicides and other sudden deaths (e.g., myocardial
infarction) from the other parental death group, which may have resulted in more conservative differences across
the groups. In family-based studies, it is difficult to isolate the causal effect of parental suicide on adverse
outcomes in offspring from confounding genetic (e.g., shared psychological vulnerability) or environmental factors
(e.g., the major stressor of parental death and mode of parental death, sociodemographic factors, living with a
parent with mental illnss).31 Despite matching and adjustment for potential confounders, unmeasured differences
such as familial factors (genetic or early environmental) that increase the risk for both predictors and outcomes
across the groups may still exist. We also did not consider possible mediating factors such as surviving parent's
psychiatric morbidity or criminality after the index parent's death, family functioning, and change in caregivers.
In summary, we found that parental suicide, relative to other forms of parental death, increased the risk of
offspring suicide, hospitalization for suicide attempt, depressive, psychotic, and personality disorders, but not
drug and alcohol use disorders. We also found that offspring who lost a parent to suicide in childhood or
adolescence were more severely affected than those who were young adults at the time of parental suicide. This
research identified a subset of bereaved offspring most in need of intervention in the aftermath of parental death,
including identifying a critical period during which the loss is particularly deleterious. Consequently, these findings
frame targets for suicide prevention and the improved identification and treatment of psychiatric disorders.
Additional research is needed to understand the mechanisms behind these adverse outcomes and to inform the
development of interventions for offspring survivors of parental suicide, especially children and adolescents..
ARTICLE 4
17 Oct 2008
ARTICLE 5
ARTICLE 6
Suicide Risk Among Violent and Sexual Criminal Offenders
Show all authors
Roger T. Webb, Jenny Shaw, Hanne Stevens
Risk of suicide in people who have perpetrated specific forms of violent or sexual criminal
offenses has not been quantified accurately or precisely. Also, gender comparisons have not
been possible due to sparse data problems in the smaller studies that have been conducted
to date. We therefore aimed to estimate these effects in the whole Danish population over a
26-year period. By completely interlinking national criminal, psychiatric, sociodemographic
and cause-specific mortality registers, we conducted a nested case-control study of more
than 27,000 adult suicides, during 1981-2006, and more than half a million age and gender-
matched living controls. Elevated suicide risk was found in male sexual offenders. Risk was
even higher among violent offenders, with greater effect sizes seen in females. It was
markedly raised with serious violence, reaching a peak in relation to homicide or attempted
homicide: male odds ratio (OR) 12.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) [8.3, 17.3]; female OR
30.9, CI [11.9, 80.6]. Following adjustment for psychiatric and social risk factors, relative risk
in violent offenders was comparable to that seen among nonviolent offenders. These
findings underline the importance of understanding why some people are violent toward
themselves as well as other people, and why suicide risk is so much higher in people who
have perpetrated serious acts of violence. They also indicate a clear need for developing
effective multiagency interventions that effectively tackle both forms of destructive behavior.
ARTICLE 7
Declining Social Control and the Rising Deviant Behaviour in
India
Pravin J. Patel
First Published January 22, 2020
ARTICLE 8
Vedika Agarwal
4/02/2020