A 5-year, population-based, longitudinal study of the impact of parental suicide on surviving children and their families is proposed. We will (1) recruit the families of parents who have either committed suicide (n=100), died by accident (n=100), or are neighborhood controls (n=l00), matched by neighborhood, age, race, and sex to the suicides; (2) assess the suicide and accident victims by psychological autopsy, and the control parent by direct interview; (3) assess the surviving spouse (or in the case of the living control, simply the spouse) and biological offspring of the index parents aged 8-17 at 3 months after the death; and (4) follow the surviving spouse and offspring annually over the course of the project. The main goals of the project are to: (1) identify possible adverse sequelae of parental suicide, namely an increased incidence of psychopathology such as depression, suicide attempt, and PTSD, and increased incidence of traumatic grief and (2) identify factors that either increase risk or increase protection against the development of these sequelae. Offspring and the surviving spouse will be assessed with regard to outcome (current and incident psychopathology, suicidal behavior, grief, other risk behaviors, and functional status); vulnerability factors (traumatic exposure to the death; relationship with the deceased; previous personal and family history of psychopathology, ongoing mental health status of surviving parent, exposure to family adversity, and intercurrent life events), and protective factors (social support, connectedness to family and school, religious involvement, involvement in organized activities, coping style, personality traits [e.g., self-esteem, locus of control], and involvement with informal and formal bereavement services). This study would be the first large-scale, population-based investigation of the sequelae of parental suicide to have comprehensive coverage of domains of outcome, risk and protective factors. The results of this study should be very useful in the design of preventive interventions for bereaved children and their families.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH065368-02
Application #
6644854
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-SNEM-2 (01))
Program Officer
Nottelmann, Editha
Project Start
2002-08-09
Project End
2007-07-31
Budget Start
2003-08-08
Budget End
2004-07-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$587,267
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Pittsburgh
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
004514360
City
Pittsburgh
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
15213
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Pham, Steven; Porta, Giovanna; Biernesser, Candice et al. (2018) The Burden of Bereavement: Early-Onset Depression and Impairment in Youths Bereaved by Sudden Parental Death in a 7-Year Prospective Study. Am J Psychiatry 175:887-896
Melhem, Nadine M; Brent, David (2016) Commentary: The course of depression after childhood parental death - a reflection on Berg et al. (2016). J Child Psychol Psychiatry 57:1467-1469
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Pan, Lisa A; Ramos, Lisa; Segreti, AnnaMaria et al. (2015) Right superior temporal gyrus volume in adolescents with a history of suicide attempt. Br J Psychiatry 206:339-40
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Melhem, Nadine M; Porta, Giovanna; Walker Payne, Monica et al. (2013) Identifying prolonged grief reactions in children: dimensional and diagnostic approaches. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 52:599-607.e7
Weinberg, Rebecca J; Dietz, Laura J; Stoyak, Samuel et al. (2013) A prospective study of parentally bereaved youth, caregiver depression, and body mass index. J Clin Psychiatry 74:834-40
Brent, David A; McMakin, Dana L; Kennard, Betsy D et al. (2013) Protecting adolescents from self-harm: a critical review of intervention studies. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 52:1260-71
Pan, L A; Hassel, S; Segreti, A M et al. (2013) Differential patterns of activity and functional connectivity in emotion processing neural circuitry to angry and happy faces in adolescents with and without suicide attempt. Psychol Med 43:2129-42

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