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.
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