Association of family dysfunction childhood adversities and lifetime attempts in men and women.

Abstract

Objective: The objectives of the study were to examine the prevalence of family dysfunction childhood adversities (CAs) by sex in a nationally representative sample and to investigate the sex-specific association of CAs with lifetime suicide attempts.

Methods: Data were drawn from the 2005, 2010, and 2017 nationally representative cross-sectional French Health Barometer surveys (n = 47,105) to examine exposure to three types of CAs and their association with lifetime suicide attempts. Logistic regressions were performed to identify associations of every exposure combination with the odds of suicide attempts overall, and stratified by gender.

Results: Overall, 43.9 % of adults reported exposure to at least one type of CA: 16.4 % parental separation, 22.4 % parental illness or death, and 22.5 % parental discord. Women reported exposure to CAs more frequently (54.1 %) than did men (45.9 %), (χ² = 132,00, df = 1, p < 0.0001). Overall, 8.7 % of women and 3.7 % of men reported a lifetime suicide attempt. In multivariable models, female sex (AOR = 2.13, 95 %CI = 1.96-2.32) and each form of exposure to CAs was associated with higher odds of reporting a lifetime attempt with exposure to all three types of CAs associated with the highest odds of lifetime attempt (AOR = 5.15, 95 %CI = 4.37-6.07). Parental discord held the strongest association with attempts, compared to illness/death or separation. In stratified analyses, CAs were equally associated with attempts among men and women.

Limitations: Cross-sectional surveys.

Conclusions: Parental discord was found to be highly prevalent in the general population and strongly associated with suicide attempts. No sex-specific associations were observed in the association of adversity types and number with attempts.