Parental Diseases of Despair Linked to Suicidal Events in Offspring

MONDAY, Sept. 15, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Parental diseases of despair (DoD; i.e., substance use disorder, alcohol-related disease, or suicidal behavior) are associated with suicidal events (SE) in offspring, according to a study published online Sept. 12 in JAMA Network Open.

David A. Brent, M.D., from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and colleagues examined the associations of parental DoD with SE in their offspring in a retrospective cohort study using the MarketScan commercial claims and encounter database. The study included 561,837 families with at least one parent diagnosed with a DoD and 1,180,546 control families, from which 817,133 and 1,744,182 children, respectively, were identified.

The researchers found that parental DoD exposure was associated with an increased risk for SE (hazard ratio, 1.67). Compared with youth with one affected parent, those with two parents with DoD had a larger risk for an SE (interaction hazard ratio, 1.95). In girls aged 8 to 11 years, there was a significant age-by-sex interaction, which was not seen in boys. Higher risk for a child SE was seen with maternal versus paternal DoD (interaction hazard ratio, 1.44).

“Family-based interventions for these families could identify youths at risk and repair disrupted family processes to prevent the deleterious sequelae that exposure to parental DoD confers on their offspring,” the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text