History of Abuse and Current Suicidal Ideation: Results From a Population Based Survey

The relationship between a history of physical or sexual abuse & current suicide ideation was examined in a total sample of 4,081 adults in Washington state. 1,058 indicated they had experienced either physical or sexual abuse before the age of 18, 52 indicated they had experienced physical abuse in the past 12 months, & 210 indicated they had been forced to have sex since the age of 18. Additionally, 106 indicated they had seriously considered suicide in the past year. After controlling for factors such as age, gender, income, education, ethnicity, employment, & marital status & the interactions between different abuse risk factors using multivariate logistic regression, results showed a history of childhood physical or sexual abuse & adult physical or sexual abuse were all related to current suicide ideation. (43 refs.) JA