Family functioning and suicidality in depressed adults

This study examined the association between suicidality, family factors, an d clinical and diagnostic variables in depressed adult inpatients. The subj ects were 121 depressed adult inpatients living with a family member or sig nificant other. Demographic, clinical, and diagnostic information about the patient, and subjective and observer ratings of family functioning were ob tained. Trained interviewers rated families of suicidal depressed patients as more dysfunctional than families of patients with no history of attempte d suicide. In a logistic regression model, earlier age of depression onset, number of psychiatric hospitalizations, and objectively rated poorer famil y communication were associated with a history of a prior suicide attempt. Also, modest evidence suggested that patients with a prior suicide attempt perceived their families as more dysfunctional than did their respective fa mily members. Variations in family functioning are associated with differen t degrees of suicidality. However, prospective longitudinal designs would e lucidate the causal relation between family dysfunction and suicidal behavi or. Copyright (C) 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company.