Abstract
Clarifying longitudinal, behavioral predictors for adolescent suicidality could enhance prediction and treatment efforts. We examined whether childhood attentional focusing, persistence, and problem-solving behavior are associated with risk for adolescent suicidal ideation. Participants were 116 twins, 40 of whom endorsed active suicidal ideation (i.e., probands), probands’ cotwins, and matched controls. Higher scores on a composite measure derived at mean age 7.7 years of (1) effort and work duration during two childhood problem-solving tasks (untangling yarn and attempting to solve an unsolvable puzzle), (2) mother reported attentional focusing, and (3) observer reported persistence predicted decreased risk for suicidal ideation at mean age 14.4 years. This prediction held when comparing probands with controls (B = -1.01, SE = 0.38, p = 0.01, OR = 0.37) and with their cotwins (B = -0.86, SE = 0.38, p = 0.02, OR = 0.42). Our findings indicate that childhood problem-solving behavior relates meaningfully to risk for suicidal thoughts approximately 7 years later, on average. These results underscore how longitudinal behavioral risk factors could enhance prediction and treatment of adolescent suicidal ideation.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the following grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): R01 MH101504, R37 MH050560, P50 MH100031, R01 MH059785 to Goldsmith. Infrastructure support was provided by the Waisman Center via core grants from The National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) P30 HD003352 and U54 HD090256.
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Informed assent was obtained from all twins included in the study, and informed consent was obtained from participants’ caregivers. The Institutional Review Board at the University of Wisconsin—Madison approved the protocol. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Sarkisian, K., Van Hulle, C. & Goldsmith, H.H. Persistence During Childhood Problem-Solving as a Predictor of Active Suicidal Ideation During Adolescence. Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol 49, 533–543 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-020-00726-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-020-00726-4