Background: Despite the fact that suicide is an important public health problem, the etiology is still not well understood. Especially lacking is a societal-level approach that takes into account the extent to which several risk factor domains are attributable to new onset of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB).
Methods: Data stem from a cross-sectional population study of the non-institutionalized adult (18+) population from Belgium (N=2419). The third version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI-3.0) was administered to assess lifetime STB and risk factor domains. Multivariate approaches, expressed in population attributable risk proportions, were used to estimate the proportion of new onset cases of STB related to the occurrence of different risk factors.
Results: Approximately 38% of cases of suicidal ideation onset were attributable to mental disorders, 20% to chronic physical conditions, and another 13% to parental psychopathology. Suicide attempts in the general population were attributable to mental disorders (PARP=48%), but attempts among persons with suicidal ideation were unrelated to mental disorders, but rather to trauma (PARP=17%) and childhood adversities (PARP=12%).
Limitations: This is an explorative study using multivariate additive general models that generates specific hypotheses on the development of STB onset rather than testing specific pathways in the process of STB.
Conclusions: New onset STB is mostly attributable to proximal risk factors such as mental disorders. However, distal risk factors like childhood adversities or trauma also play a considerable role in the new onset of STB, especially in the transition from suicide ideation to suicide attempt.
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