Maternal and Paternal Psychological Distress Profiles Across Childhood and Offspring Suicide Attempt
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Importance. Parental mental health is associated with youth suicidality. Considering maternal andpaternal mental health jointly, rather than examining either parent separately, may better characterizefamily-level risk and identify youth who could benefit from early prevention.Objective. To examine the association of joint maternal and paternal psychological distress profilesacross childhood with offspring suicide attempt during adolescence and young adulthood.Design: Population-based longitudinal cohort study with 23 years of follow-up.Setting: United Kingdom.Participants. Participants in the Millennium Cohort Study with data on suicide attempt at age 17 or 23years and parental psychological distress during early and middle childhood.Exposures: Membership in 1 of 4 joint longitudinal profiles of maternal and paternal psychologicaldistress derived by parallel-process latent class growth analysis of repeated Kessler-6 assessments atoffspring ages 3, 5, 7, 11, and 14 years: low maternal and paternal distress (low, 65.7%), moderatepaternal/low maternal distress (paternal, 10.9%), moderate maternal/low paternal distress (maternal,18.3%), and high maternal/moderate paternal distress (dual, 5.1%).Main Outcomes and Measures. Self-reported suicide attempt by offspring at age 17 or 23 yearsResults. Among 10,935 participants, 5,605 (51.3%) were female. Suicide attempt prevalence was9.9%, 13.0%, 15.6%, and 21.4% in the low, paternal, maternal, and dual profiles, respectively.Compared with the low distress profile, adjusted relative risks (95% confidence intervals) was higheramong offspring in the paternal (1.39 [1.17-1.65]), maternal (1.49 [1.30-1.70]), and dual (2.00 [1.64-2.44]) dual distress profiles. Offspring in the dual distress profile had also higher risk that those in thepaternal (1.44 [1.13-1.84]) or maternal (1.34 [1.09-1.66]) distress profiles. The sex-by-profileinteraction was not significant. Associations did not differ significantly by offspring sex.Conclusions and Relevance. Longitudinal patterns of maternal and paternal psychological distressacross childhood were jointly associated with offspring suicide attempt, with the highest risk amongyouth exposed to distress in both parents. Considering the mental health of both mothers and fathersacross childhood may help identify youth at elevated risk and inform early suicide prevention efforts.
Source: PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints)
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7208742424