Suicidality in Offspring of Men with Substance Use Disorder: Is There a Common Liability?

Abstract
SUMMARY Suicide is the outcome of a discrete behavioral act which may precede or emerge consequent to a substance use disorder (SUD). A question that has yet to be empirically addressed pertains to the extent to which SUD and suicide have a common liability. The results reported herein indicate that psychological dysregulation in childhood is a risk factor for SUD but not suicidality. Offspring of men with SUD do, however, report a higher rate of suicidal ideation and attempts compared to offspring of psychiatrically normal men. These findings indicate that the risk for suicide and SUD do not completely map to each other but that there may be as yet unidentified factors which are associated with both outcomes.