Adult Children of Divorce More Likely to Consider Suicide

With divorce usually comes, at the very least, a moderate amount of stress.  But once the final papers are signed and life settles into a new, hopefully better routine, does the stress go away? Or does it turn into something more dangerous?

New research from the University of Toronto suggests adult children of divorced parents are more likely to have seriously considered suicide than their peers from intact families.

In a paper published online this week in the journal Psychiatry Research, investigators examined gender specific differences among a sample of 6,647 adults, of whom 695 had experienced parental divorce before the age of 18.

The study found that men from divorced families were three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts compared to men whose parents had not divorced.

And women from broken families were 83 percent more likely to have suicidal thoughts than their female peers who had not experienced parental divorce.

The study also revealed, despite both men and women being vulnerable to suicidal thoughts, one sex is more vulnerable than the other.

Researchers found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that divorces associated with childhood stressors like parental drug or alcohol addiction, physical abuse, and parental unemployment upped the risk for suicidal thoughts among both sexes, but when those stressors were not present, women were less susceptible to suicidal ideation.

Men more affected

For men, however, it didn’t matter if those stressors were present or not present; they were still more likely to consider ending their lives compared to men from intact families.

Lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson, Sandra Rotman Chair at U of T's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and Department of Family and Community Medicine, said this study suggests the pathways linking parental divorce to suicidal thoughts are different for men than women.

"The association between parental divorce and suicidal thoughts in men was unexpectedly strong, even when we adjusted for other childhood and adult stressors, socioeconomic status, depression and anxiety."

Why men might be more negatively impacted by their parents divorcing is still up for speculation although researchers believe it could be due to the absence of close contact with a father which may occur after the divorce.

Previous studies have linked the loss of father-figures with adverse developmental outcomes in boys.

"It may be that the link between parental divorce and suicidal ideation in men is mediated through factors we cannot control for in our analyses such as childhood poverty or parental depression, both of which are more prevalent in divorced families," said U of T masters graduate and study co-author Angela Dalton.

While these are upsetting findings, Fuller-Thomson cautions they "are not meant to panic divorced parents. Our data in no way suggest that children of divorce are destined to become suicidal."

Researcher's note that the findings need to be confirmed by others using prospective data before any public health recommendations can be made.

However, if confirmed, this information would have significant clinical implications for mental health professionals working with families experiencing parental divorce.