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. 2025 Jan:159:107151.
doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107151. Epub 2024 Dec 3.

The role of childhood maltreatment and mental health disorders on suicidal behaviour in adolescents

S Gómez-Vallejo  1 , M Díaz-Marsa  2 , V Fernández Rodrigues  3 , J Andreo-Jover  4 , T Bobes-Bascarán  5 , A I Cebrià  6 , B Crespo Facorro  7 , N Garrido-Torres  7 , A González-Pinto  8 , L Jiménez-Teviño  5 , E Lara  9 , M P Lopez-Peña  8 , A Palao-Tarrero  10 , D J Palao  11 , V Pérez  12 , M Ruiz-Veguilla  7 , P A Sáiz  5 , Y Sánchez-Carro  13 , A de la Torre-Luque  14 , E Vidal Bermejo  15 , E Vieta  16 , I Zorrilla  8 , N Roberto  17 , I Grande  18 , J Bobes  5 , Luisa Lázaro  1 , Lorenzo Bracco  17 , Fernando Corbalán  17 , Natalia Fares  17 , Wala Ayad-Ahmed  3 , José Luis Ayuso-Mateos  19 , Jennifer Fernández-Fernández  20 , Ainoa García-Fernández  20 , Adriana Garcia-Ramos  19 , Carlos Imaz  20 , Itziar Leal-Leturia  19 , Luis Olivares  3 , Beatriz Payá  20 , Andres Pemau  19 , Carla Perez-Guerra  19 , Elisa Seijo-Zazo  20 , Nuria Tur  3
Affiliations

The role of childhood maltreatment and mental health disorders on suicidal behaviour in adolescents

S Gómez-Vallejo et al. Child Abuse Negl. 2025 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Suicide stands as a grave and pressing public health concern, ranking among the foremost causes of death in the youth demographics. While childhood maltreatment (CM) and mental disorders have garnered substantial attention as risk factors for suicide, there remains an enigmatic aspect concerning how these two elements interact, influencing the nature of suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviour, and the transition between them.

Objective: This study endeavours to shed light on the intricate interplay between CM, mental disorders, and suicide.

Participants and setting: We gathered data from 289 adolescents aged 12-17 (87.2 % female) drawn from eight different hospitals across Spain, all of whom had attempted suicide within the past 10 days.

Methods: We assessed suicidal ideation severity and intensity, suicidal behaviour by attempts using the C-SSRS, and the presence of CM using CTQ and identified concurrent mental disorders according to the MINI. Regression analysis and moderation analysis were conducted by PROCESS macro.

Results: Moderation analysis revealed that higher scores of CM were associated with a higher number of suicide attempts with the presence of a mental disorder. Additionally, we found that those with higher scores of CM reported less severe characteristics of suicidal ideation, when presenting along with an anxiety disorder.

Conclusions: These findings revealed CM increased risk of suicidal behaviour among young individuals. Additionally, the results suggest that adolescents with CM and anxiety disorder might under-report suicidal ideation. Hence, these findings offer a potential key to identifying and preventing suicide risk among young individuals.

Keywords: Childhood trauma; Prevention; Risk factors; Suicide risk; Youth.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest IG has received grants and has served as a consultant, advisor or CME speaker for the following entities: ADAMED, Angelini, Casen Recordati, Esteve, Ferrer, Gedeon Richter, Janssen Cilag, Lundbeck, Lundbeck-Otsuka, Luye, SEI Healthcare, Viatris outside the submitted work. She also receives royalties from Oxford University Press, Elsevier, Editorial Médica Panamericana. EV has received grants and served as a consultant, advisor or CME speaker for the following entities: AB-Biotics, AbbVie, Adamed, Angelini, Biogen, Biohaven, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Celon Pharma, Compass, Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma, Ethypharm, Ferrer, Gedeon Richter, GH Research, Glaxo-Smith Kline, HMNC, Idorsia, Johnson & Johnson, Lundbeck, Medincell, Merck, Novartis, Orion Corporation, Organon, Otsuka, Roche, Rovi, Sage, Sanofi-Aventis, Sunovion, Takeda, and Viatris, outside the submitted work. Pilar A. Saiz has been a consultant to and/or has received honoraria or grants from Adamed, Alter Medica, Angelini Pharma, CIBERSAM, Ethypharm Digital Therapy, European Commission, Government of the Principality of Asturias, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Janssen-Cilag, Lundbeck, Otsuka, Pfizer, Plan Nacional Sobre Drogas and Servier outside the submitted work. Dr. Gonzalez-Pinto has received grants and served as a consultant, advisor or CME speaker for the following entities: Janssen-Cilag, Lundbeck, Otsuka, Alter, Angelini, Novartis, Rovi, Takeda, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CIBERSAM), the Ministry of Science (Carlos III Institute), the Basque Government, and the European Framework Program of Research. Funding: This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN) (PI19/01027) integrated into the Plan Nacional de I+D+I and cofinanced by the ISCIII-Subdirección General de Evaluación and cofinanced by the Eurorean Union (FEDER, FSE, Next Generation EU/Plan de Recuperación Transformación y Resiliencia_PRTR), the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the Government of the Principality of Asturias PCTI-2021-2023 IDI/2021/111, the Fundación para la Investigación e Innovación Biosanitaria del Principado de Asturias (FINBA), and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. IG has received support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN) (PI19/00954) integrated into the Plan Nacional de I+D+I and cofinanced by the ISCIII-Subdirección General de Evaluación y confinanciado por la Unión Europea (FEDER, FSE, Next Generation EU/Plan de Recuperación Transformación y Resiliencia_PRTR); the Instituto de Salud Carlos III; the CIBER of Mental Health (CIBERSAM); and the Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Economia i Coneixement (2021 SGR 01358), CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya as well as the Fundació Clínic per la Recerca Biomèdica (Pons Bartran 2022-FRCB_PB1_2022). The work by NEF-O was made possible through funding by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (EU.3.1.3. Treating and managing disease: Grant No. 945151) and DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) (ID-57681229 - Ref. No. 91629413). EV has received support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PI21/00787) integrated into the Plan Nacional de I+D+I and co-financed by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III - Subdirección General de Evaluación and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER); the Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Economia i Coneixement (2021-SGR-01358), CERCA Programme, Generalitat de Catalunya; La Marató-TV3 Foundation grants 202234-30; the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (H2020-EU.3.1.1. - Understanding health, wellbeing and disease, H2020-EU.3.1.3. Treating and managing disease: Grant 945151, HORIZON.2.1.1 - Health throughout the Life Course: Grant 101057454 and EIT Health (EDIT-B project). AGP has received support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities PI21/00713, PI18/01055 integrated into the Plan Nacional de I+D+I y cofinanciado por el ISCIII-Subdirección General de Evaluación y el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER); CIBERSAM; and the Basque Government 2022111054.

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