A comparison of life events in suicidal and nonsuicidal adolescents and young adults with major depression and borderline personality disorder

Abstract 

This retrospective study assessed the correlations between various types of stressful life events (SLE) and suicidal adolescents and young adults with major depressive disorder (MDD;22), borderline personality disorder (BPD;18), and nonsuicidal adolescents and young adults with MDD (20) and BPD (20). A community control group of 40 participants was also evaluated.

The measurements used were Life Events Checklist, Childhood Sexual Abuse Questionnaire, Suicide Risk Scale, and Beck Depression Inventory.

Suicidal participants experienced a greater number of total lifetime negative events compared with nonsuicidal participants, irrespective of diagnosis, including a greater amount of negative life events in the year before the suicide attempt compared with the year before referral in the nonsuicidal group. Participants with MDD reported more lifetime negative events than participants with BPD. Suicidal adolescents did not have more lifetime death-related SLE than nonsuicidal adolescents, but MDD adolescents experienced more lifetime death-related SLE than BPD adolescents. Suicidal BPD participants reported more lifetime sex abuse–related SLE compared with nonsuicidal BPD participants.

The complexity of the relationships between SLE and the interplay of both suicidality and underlying psychopathology is discussed with the relevant treatment implications.