Parental bonding and suicidality in adulthood.
OBJECTIVE
The short-term effect of an adverse parental child rearing style on suicidality in adolescence has been extensively discussed. Nevertheless, little is known about the long-term effect of adverse parental child rearing on lifetime suicidality in adulthood. So the present study aims to examine the relation between parental bonding on the one hand and suicidality in adulthood on the other.


METHODS
We used data from 7740 respondents of the European Study of Epidemiology of Mental Disorders project, a cross-sectional household survey carried out in six European countries. The data were assessed with the World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview, a comprehensive, fully structured psychiatric diagnostic interview. Suicidality was categorized as follows: 'no ideation', 'ideation', 'attempt'. Parental bonding was assessed by means of a three-factor ('care', 'overprotection', 'authoritarianism') short form of the Parental Bonding Instrument. Using a multinomial-logistic regression model to investigate the association between these two constructs, we also adjusted for mood disorders, anxiety disorders, alcohol abuse/dependence and possible country effects.


RESULTS
We found associations between low maternal and paternal care on the one hand and suicidality on the other. Country-specific differences proved negligible.


CONCLUSIONS
Prevention programs can help better equip parents in their child-rearing role to create a more caring parenting environment. This can be a protective factor for suicidality in adulthood. Nevertheless, more efforts are necessary to better describe the paths that lead from child-rearing behaviour to suicidality in adulthood.
Heider
Dirk
D
University of Leipzig, Department of Psychiatry, Leipzig, Germany. heidd@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
Bernert
Sebastian
S
Matschinger
Herbert
H
Haro
Josep M
JM
Alonso
Jordi
J
Angermeyer
Matthias C
MC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires