Link found between witnessing parental domestic violence during childhood and attempted suicide

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-06/uot-lfb060916.php

Public Release: 9-Jun-2016
Link found between witnessing parental domestic violence during childhood and attempted suicide
One in six adults who were exposed to chronic parental domestic violence during their childhood has attempted suicide
University of Toronto

A new study by the University of Toronto (U of T), found the lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts among adults who had been exposed to chronic parental domestic violence during childhood was 17.3% compared to 2.3% among those without this childhood adversity.

"We had expected that the association between chronic parental domestic violence and later suicide attempts would be explained by childhood sexual or physical abuse, or by mental illness and substance abuse. However, even when we took these factors into account, those exposed to chronic parental domestic violence still had more than twice the odds of having attempted suicide" reported lead author Professor Esme Fuller-Thomson, Sandra Rotman Endowed Chair at the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and Institute for Life Course and Aging.

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