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Children often take after their parents, in good things and in bad things like suicide. Having a parent who has attempted suicide increases the risk that his or her child will attempt suicide by nearly five-fold. This finding comes from a study of the children of parents who had mood disorders.

The study included 701 juvenile and adult children of parents who had mental health issues such as depression or bipolar disorder. The average age of the children was a bit under 18. There were 334 parents; 191 of them had attempted suicide at some time. The study ran from 1997 through 2012 and the children of these parents were followed for an average of nearly 6 years.

Before participating in the study, 6.3% of the children had already made an attempt at suicide. During the study follow-up, another 4.1% attempted suicide. The study found that a parent's suicide attempt had a direct effect on the suicide attempt of their child, even after the child's history of suicide attempts was taken into account. This was true also after taking into account whether the mood disorder of the parent was shared by the child.


Impulsive aggression was an important precursor of mood disorder, said lead study author David A. Brent, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. This means that children with a family history of suicide or suicide attempts could be screened for impulsive aggression and receive therapy.

Other research has shown that there is a link between a person's suicide attempt or suicide and a family history of suicide attempts. However, it is not known how such a link occurs or why it exists.

Suicide is a leading cause of death in teens.