title: Early childhood sexual abuse increases suicidal intent.
abstract: Childhood sexual abuse has been consistently associated with suicidal behavior. We studied suicide attempt features in depressed individuals sexually abused as children. On average, sexual abuse started before age 9. It frequently coexisted with physical abuse. Suicide attempters more often had personality disorders and had endured abuse for longer, but did not differ in terms of other clinical characteristics from non-attempters. Earlier onset of sexual abuse and its duration were associated with more suicide attempts. However, when personality disorders were included in the regression model, only these disorders predicted number of attempts. The severity of sexual abuse and the coexistence of physical abuse were correlated with age at first suicide attempt. However, only severity of sexual abuse was marginally associated with age at first suicide attempt in the regression model. Finally, the earlier the age of onset of sexual abuse, the higher the intent, even after controlling for age, sex and personality disorders. This suggests that the characteristics of childhood sexual abuse, especially age of onset, should be considered when studying the risk for suicidal behavior in abused populations.
authors.affiliation: IIS-Fundacion Jimenez Diaz, Department of Psychiatry, CIBERSAM, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lopez-Castroman
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Melhem
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Birmaher
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Greenhill
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kolko
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stanley
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zelazny
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brodsky
authors.forename: Rebeca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Garcia-Nieto
authors.forename: Ainsley K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.forename: J John
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Brent
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Oquendo