Abstract
Alcohol and cannabis use are consistently associated with greater risk of suicide, particularly among men and in higher-income countries (e.g., Australia). Adult data (n = 7,464) from waves 1 and 2 of Ten to Men: The Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health were used to explore whether alcohol and/or cannabis use increased the longitudinal risk of a suicide attempt among suicidal ideators. Cannabis use was associated with increased risk of transitioning from suicidal ideation to making a suicide attempt; no association was found for alcohol. Broadly, these findings indicate that greater cannabis but not alcohol use may increase risk of transitioning to making a suicide attempt among those who are thinking about suicide.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research on which this paper is based was conducted as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health (Ten to Men). We are grateful to the Australian Government Department of Health for funding and to the boys and men who provided the survey data. Ten to Men is managed by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. Ten to Men research data is the intellectual property of the Commonwealth.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
DS and BR conceived the initial idea for the manuscript. AM, BR, TW conducted the analyses. AM wrote the initial draft and BR, DS, TW, PH, and KM all reviewed and edited the manuscript.
DISCLOUSRE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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Notes on contributors
Andre Mason
Andre Mason, B.Sc (Hons), Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Benjamin C. Riordan
Benjamin C. Riordan, PhD, Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Kirsten Morley
Kirsten Morley, PhD, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
Taylor Winter
Taylor Winter, MSc, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand.
Paul Haber
Paul Haber, PhD, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia and
Damian Scarf
Damian Scarf, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.