SUICIDAL ATTEMPTS AND IDEATIONS AMONG ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG-ADULTS - THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS CARE AND OF PARENTAL SEPARATION

Parental care was analyzed separately with the PBI for both father and mother or their surrogate to assess its association with suicidal beh avior (attempt or serious ideation). The study was conducted on two Fr ench-speaking samples from Montreal: the first included 2,327 high sch ool students and the second 701 young adults (18 to 24) reached by pho ne. Results showed poor care of father to be highly associated with su icidal behavior in the highschool group. Poor care of the mother and p arental divorce obtained a lower association. In the second sample, on ly poor care of the father was significantly associated with suicidal behavior. The conclusion is that more attention should be focused on t he father and that parental divorce may have a short-term effect but n ot a lasting influence when poor care is absent.