Examining the roles of genes, cognition, and health in risk for youth suicidality
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Citation
Abstract
Suicide is the second leading cause of death in young people, yet it remains difficult to predict. Suicidality in preadolescent children is especially understudied and epidemiological studies suggest that it has been underestimated. This project examined potential health, cognitive, and genetic predictors of suicidal thoughts and/or behaviors in preadolescent youth using data from the ongoing Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study.
Study 1 examined associations between chronic health conditions reported at baseline, when youth were 10 years old on average, and incident suicidality across a two-year follow-up period reported by either parents or youth in ABCD (n=11876, 53% male, 52% white; 10% incident suicidality rate). It was hypothesized that history of chronic health conditions would be associated with higher rates of incident suicidality. After adjusting for covariates including psychopathology, trauma exposure, and family conflict and correcting for multiple comparisons, chronic illness was not significantly associated with incident or lifetime suicidality.
Study 2 examined associations in the same sample between cognitive performance, measured at baseline using the NIMH Toolbox Cognition Battery, and incident suicidality across follow-up. It was hypothesized that lower cognitive performance at baseline would be associated with higher rates of incident suicidality. Fully adjusted models did not indicate significant associations between cognitive performance and suicidality.
Study 3 examined genetic influences on variance in lifetime suicidality through analysis of ABCD’s embedded twin cohort (n=1542; 51% male; 66% white; 21% lifetime suicidality rate). It was hypothesized that additive genetic factors would contribute significantly to suicidality. Results suggested a significant familial influence on youth suicidality; however, analyses were likely underpowered to disentangle the relative contributions of additive genetic and shared environmental factors to variance in youth suicidality.
Studies 1 and 2 suggest that chronic health and cognition, which have been associated with youth suicidality in previous research, may not predict suicidality over and above the effect of risk factors such as psychopathology and family conflict. Study 3 suggests significant familial influences on suicidality. Future studies should continue to disentangle mechanisms of risk and explore unmeasured confounds to improve prediction of preadolescent suicidality.