Recent findings out of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center indicate that “losing a parent to suicide makes children more likely to die by suicide themselves and increases their risk of developing a range of major psychiatric disorders.” Researchers estimate that between 7,000 and 12,000 children annually lose a parent to suicide. The same study also showed that “losing a parent, regardless of cause, increased a child’s risk of committing a violent crime.”

Though children of suicide are three times more likely to kill themselves than children with living parents, most will go on to lead healthy lives. “Children are surprisingly resilient,” says Holly C. Wilcox, a psychiatric epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. “A loving, supporting environment and careful attention to any emerging psychiatric symptoms can offset even such a major stressor as a parent’s suicide.”

Related findings include that a child under age 13 whose parent died suddenly in an accident is twice as likely to commit suicide. Children under 13 who lose a parent to illness do not have an increased risk for suicide, but have a 40 percent higher risk for hospitalization due to depression.

I know this is a bleak topic, so I’ll add a personal note here.  As I mentioned previously, my grandparents committed suicide in 1995 when I was 18.  My mother and I lived with my grandparents before my mom remarried, so I was much closer to them than one might imagine the “typical” grandchild to be. I remember getting the phone call from my mother, letting me know what happened. She was oddly calm when she told me, because she was in shock, no doubt. But then after I screamed, “What?!,” she said in a panic-stricken voice, “Oh, you’re not gonna do anything stupid like that now, are you?” I assured her I wasn’t. But I know she was terrified of some kind of suicidal domino effect.

This study proves that concern for the safety of suicide survivors is very real. If you or someone you know needs more information on coping with this type of loss, visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Photo: The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention via Flickr

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