Does parenthood alter suicide risk?
Do parents have a lower or higher risk of suicide? Does this change over the life course? Is it different for females and males?
By J Dykxhoorn in Suicide & self-harm Survival analysis Social determinants of health Sweden
July 14, 2022
Figure 1: From unsplash.com
Why did we do this research?
Becoming a parent is thought to reduce the risk of suicide, but there are many questions, including does this protective effect change over the life course and if it is different for men and for women.
Research questions
Do parents have a lower or higher risk of suicide?
Does this risk change over the life course?
Does the impact of parenthood on suicide risk differ for females and males?
What did we do?
In this study, we used data on over 5 million Swedish women and men from 1991 to 2011.
We used the linked national registers to identify the birth or adoption of children and other important confounding factors. We used the national death registry to identify people who died by suicide.
In order to assess the risk of suicide, we used survival analysis (Cox regression).
What did we find?
Parents had a lower risk of suicide than non-parents across the life course.
Figure 2: Association between parenthood and suicide risk in women and men, by age
This reduction in suicide risk was most pronounced for younger parents, particularly young women.These results are consistent with possible mechanisms, like sense of responsibility and higher levels of connectedness, which may be protective against suicide in parents.
Behind the research
This research led by Alma Sörberg Wallin from Karolinska Institutet.
- Posted on:
- July 14, 2022
- Length:
- 2 minute read, 239 words
- Series:
- Social determinants of health
- See Also: