Exploring the relationship between childhood Challenges, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts.
Difficult experiences in childhood are associated with suicide risk later in life.
We wanted to understand more about which childhood experiences are associated with suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts in men – and whether some experiences may help distinguish men who have thought about suicide from those who have made an attempt.
This is important because not everyone who thinks about suicide goes on to attempt suicide.
Understanding what differs between men with no history of suicide, men who have experienced suicidal thoughts, and men who have attempted suicide may help us build a more detailed picture of how childhood adversity relates to different suicidal behaviours.
In this study, we compared three groups of men:
- Men with no suicidal history
- Men who had experienced thoughts of suicide but never made an attempt
- Men who had attempted suicide.
Across these groups we made three unique comparisons:
- Men with no suicidal history compared to men with thoughts of suicide – which childhood experiences made it more likely that a man had expereinced thoughts of suicide compared to a man with no suicidal history?
- Men with no suicidal history compared to men who have attempted suicide – which childhood experiences were associated with having made a suicide attempt?
- Men with thoughts of suicide compared to men who have attempted suicide – which childhood experiences distinguished men who had attempted suicide from men who had thoughts of suicide?
what did we find?
When we looked at each childhood experience individually, every form of childhood adversity measured in the study was associated with suicidal outcomes.
For example, men who had experienced sexual abuse had higher odds of having experienced suicidal thoughts compared with men with no suicidal history. They also had higher odds of having attempted suicide compared with men who had experienced suicidal thoughts only.
This pattern was true of every childhood challenge we explored.
We then looked to understand which experiences appeared most signifcant in relation to increasing the odds of sucidial behaviours – two challenges stood out.
Bullying
Bullying stood out as one of the most consistent findings in the study.
These findings suggests that the impact of bullying may extend far beyond childhood. They reinforce the importance of preventing bullying in the first place – and of providing meaningful support to boys and men affected by it.
Emotional abuse
Emotional abuse was also strongly and consistently linked with suicidal behaviour.
These findings highlight the need to take emotional harm in childhood seriously.
Emotional abuse may be less visible than some other forms of adversity, but it can profoundly affect how a child comes to understand themselves, their worth and their relationships with other people.
For boys, an important question is how these experiences may interact with wider expectations around masculinity — particularly messages about being strong, suppressing vulnerability or dealing with pain alone.
We also need to understand much more about how early emotional harm shapes men’s ability to recognise, express and regulate distress later in life.
why this work matters
Every child deserves to grow up feeling psychologically safe, loved and cared for. Sadly, many children do not experience this consistently.
Experiences in early life can leave effects that reach far beyond childhood.
A boy who is repeatedly bullied, for example, may come to see himself as unlikeable or expect rejection from other people. These beliefs may carry into adulthood and make it harder for him to trust others, feel safe in relationships or believe that support will be there when he needs.
Not every child who experiences adversity will struggle later in life, and there is no single pathway from childhood pain to suicide. But understanding more about how different childhood harms may shape boys and men over time can help us identify where support is needed and how some of the longer-term effects might be reduced.
The more we understand about these pathways, the better placed we are to develop prevention and support that begins earlier – helping children recover from painful experiences before those wounds have had years to deepen.
EXPLORE RELATED WORK:
RESEARCH TEAM
- Dr Susie Bennett, University of Glasgow
- Professor Katie Robb, University of Glasgow
- Dr Tiago Zortea, University of Glasgow & Oxford
- Roman Adan, Public Policy Consultant and Data Analyst
- Professor Rory O’Connor, University of Glasgow