JAMA Network Open: Parental Diseases of Despair and Suicidal Events in Their Children

Adolescent suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and deaths by suicide have increased substantially in the past 15 years, yet the drivers behind this increase are unknown. While much has been written about the potential role of social media on adolescent suicidal behavior, there is another potential contributor hiding in plain sight—the rise in parental deaths of despair that parallels in the increase in adolescent suicidal behavior. The economists Case and Deaton identified deaths of despair in mid-life adults as contributing to the overall decline in American life-expectancy. These causes of death, which include suicide, alcohol-related disease, and opiate overdoses, have more than doubled during the past 15 years, in concert with increases in diseases of despair (DoD), namely suicide attempts, alcohol-related disease, and substance use disorders (See Figure, originally published in the American Journal of Psychiatry). 

Investigators including David Brent, MD (Endowed Chair in Suicide Studies and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Science, and Pediatrics), examined whether parental DoD were associated with increased risk for suicidal events (either a suicide attempt or self-harm) in their children. The investigators studied deidentified data from 561,837 families with at least one parent with DoD, and 1.1 million families without DoD in a large insurance claims database that linked parent and child claims.

Results of the study, recently published in JAMA Network Open, revealed that the epidemics of DoD in midlife adults and suicidal behavior in youths could be related, since having a parent with a DoD was associated with nearly double the hazard of a suicidal event in their offspring. Having two parents with DoD was associated with approximately twice the risk for a suicidal event compared with those with single-parent DoD exposure. Moreover, the risk for a suicidal event was highest in 8-11 year-old girls, who are showing the most rapid increase in suicide among youth. 

“This connection between parental DoD and youth suicidal events is plausible because of familial transmission of psychopathology and the negative impact that having a parent with a DoD has on parenting and the family environment,” said Dr. Brent, lead and corresponding author of the study. “Improved access to care for parents with DoD and incorporation of youth into screening and intervention could potentially help to reduce the high rate of adolescent suicidal behavior.”

Parental Diseases of Despair and Suicidal Events in Their Children
Brent DA, Hur K, Gibbons JB, Porta G, Gibbons RD.  
JAMA Network Open. 2025;8(9):e2531442. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.31442