Genetic Contribution to Suicidal Behaviors and Associated Risk Factors Among Adolescents in the U.S.

Using adolescent twin data in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, concordance in suicide ideation & attempts among monozygotic & dizygotic twins was examined. Heritability of risk factors for suicidal behaviours also was examined using Pearson correlation & mixed-model analyses. A trend of higher concordance in ideation & attempts was found among monozygotic than dizygotic twins but the difference was not statistically significant by the stringent test of bootstrapping analysis. Evidence of heritability was found for several suicide risk factors. Gender differences in some risk factors suggest these genetic contributions are gender specific. (53 refs.)