Numerous Relocations Increases Risk of Suicide in Teens

Even though we don’t hear a great deal about suicide in young people, it is a very real problem, causing the deaths of thousands of children and teens across the country each year. After a gradual decline since 1990, the suicide rate among American youngsters shot up a staggering 8 percent in 2003-2004; the biggest one-year rise in fifteen years. Now, suicide is the sixth leading cause of death for 5-to-14-year-olds, and the third leading cause of death for 15-to-24-year-olds. But perhaps even more alarming is that for every completed teen suicide, there are probably at least 25 attempts made; and that doesn’t cover the teen suicide attempts and completed suicides that are never reported.

The reasons behind a teen’s suicide or attempted suicide can be complex. There are hormonal changes that awaken sexual feelings; there’s a growing self-identity and a need for autonomy; there’s pressure to perform academically, to fit in socially and to act responsibly. All of these issues can be difficult and draining, and can lead to depression if they go on too long without relief or support—something that youngsters who move frequently don’t often have. In fact, a study of children in Denmark found that “moving from one place to another can result in a breakdown of connections to peer friends” and “may be traumatic or psychologically distressing,” increasing the risk of suicide.

For the study, Dr. Ping Qin and colleagues at the University of Aarhus in Denmark used data from Danish national registries to identify all children born between 1978 and 1995 and to trace their changes of address. Then, based on hospital records, the researchers determined that between 11 and 17 years of age, 4,160 of these children attempted suicide, and 79 completed suicide. For each suicide attempt or completion, 30 control children who were the same sex and age were selected and the researchers adjusted the data to account for other factors that might have influenced the children’s psychosocial well-being, including the loss of a parent or a history of mental illness.

Compared with the controls, those who attempted suicide were more likely to have changed residences frequently. Slightly more than 55 percent of suicidal children had moved more than three times, compared to 32 percent of controls, and 7.4 percent had moved more than 10 times, compared with 1.9 percent of controls. Frequent moves were also more common among those who completed suicide. The researchers also observed a dose-response relationship for both attempted and completed suicide, meaning that the more often a child changed addresses, the more likely they were to have attempted or completed suicide.

According to background information in the report, changes of residence occur frequently in modern society. One in five U.S. families move each year and, for some children, including military and corporate kids, moving every two to three years is not unusual. “The breakdown of connections with peers, discontinuation of group activities, distress and worries related to the new environment are potentially psychologically distressing events for young children. Frequent exposures to these events can be stressful and confusing and may affect their psychosocial well-being, thus increasing their intention toward ending their life if they are unable to cope,” the authors write.

In addition, because their parents are often preoccupied with a new job, new home, and new environment, they may be unable to attend to their children’s emotional needs. “Children may feel ignored and have no one to communicate with. A suicide attempt may, to some extent, express the need for more attention from their parents,” the authors noted, adding that parents and schools should be more aware of needs of children who have moved recently, especially those with a history of being frequently uprooted.

Dr. Scott J. South, professor of sociology at the University at Albany, State University of New York, who was not involved in the Danish study but has researched the impact of frequent moves on children, said the findings corroborate earlier studies that have found an association between frequent moves and children’s mental health. “The evidence is becoming quite compelling that there is a causal effect of children’s residential mobility on a variety of negative behavioral outcomes,” he said. “(The children) do worse in school, they are more likely to drop out of high school, and I published a study that found they’re more likely to engage in sexual behavior earlier.”

The study was published on Monday in the June issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry.