Suicide Ideation and Neurocognition Among 9- and 10-Year Old Children in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study

Abstract

Objective

During the past decade, the pediatric suicide rate has nearly tripled. Yet, little is known about suicide behavior (SB) in children. Identification of risk factors associated with SB during childhood may be critical to preventing future attempts. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between neurocognitive performance and suicide ideation (SI) in children.

Method

The present study utilized baseline data from 11,875 participants in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, a longitudinal study that follows 9- and 10-year-old children through late adolescence to examine factors that influence developmental trajectories. Suicidality was assessed by the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia (KSADS) suicide module completed by the parent. Neurocognitive ability was assessed using the NIH Toolbox Cognition measures administered to the youth.

Results

Children with a history of SI reported by their parent or concordant parent and youth report of SI demonstrated lower performance on the NIH Toolbox Picture Sequence Memory Test compared to children without SI. The difference in performance on the memory task remained significant when including demographic characteristics, family history of suicide, and internalizing symptoms in the model as covariates.

Conclusions

To our knowledge, this is the first study to identify decreased episodic memory in children with SI. These findings are similar to results from adult and adolescent studies which have reported decreased memory performance among suicide attempters. Deficits in episodic memory may impact a child’s ability to problem-solve and generate potential future outcomes, which may increase the risk for SB. Early identification of memory deficits in children may inform suicide prevention and intervention efforts.

Highlights

• 6% of parents and children reported a history of active suicide ideation in children.

• Children with a history of suicide ideation had lower episodic memory performance.

• Early identification of memory deficits may inform suicide intervention efforts.

Keywords:

• Children
• episodic memory
• neurocognition
• suicide behavior
• suicide ideation

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Data used in the preparation of this article were obtained from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (https://abcdstudy.org), held in the NIMH Data Archive (NDA). This is a multisite, longitudinal study designed to recruit more than 10,000 children age 9–10 and follow them over 10 years into early adulthood. The ABCD Study is supported by the National Institutes of Health and additional federal partners under award numbers U01DA041048, U01DA050989, U01DA051016, U01DA041022, U01DA051018, U01DA051037, U01DA050987, U01DA041174, U01DA041106, U01DA041117, U01DA041028, U01DA041134, U01DA050988, U01DA051039, U01DA041156, U01DA041025, U01DA041120, U01DA051038, U01DA041148, U01DA041093, U01DA041089, U24DA041123, U24DA041147. A full list of supporters is available at https://abcdstudy.org/federal-partners.html. A listing of participating sites and a complete listing of the study investigators can be found at https://abcdstudy.org/consortium_members/. ABCD consortium investigators designed and implemented the study and/or provided data but did not necessarily participate in analysis or writing of this report. This manuscript reflects the views of the authors and may not reflect the opinions or views of the NIH or ABCD consortium investigators.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The ABCD data repository grows and changes over time. The ABCD data used in this report came from NIMH Data Archive Digital Object Identifier (DOI) 10.15154/1518688. DOIs can be found at https://dx.doi.org/10.15154/1518688.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rebekah S. Huber

Rebekah S. Huber*, PhD, Chandni Sheth, Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Diagnostic Neuroimaging Laboratory, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.

Chandni Sheth

Perry F. Renshaw, Deborah A. Yurgelun-Todd, Erin C. McGlade, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Diagnostic Neuroimaging Laboratory, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Veterans Affairs VISN 19 Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Salt Lake City, UT, USA.

Perry F. Renshaw

Perry F. Renshaw, Deborah A. Yurgelun-Todd, Erin C. McGlade, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Diagnostic Neuroimaging Laboratory, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Veterans Affairs VISN 19 Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Salt Lake City, UT, USA.

Deborah A. Yurgelun-Todd

Perry F. Renshaw, Deborah A. Yurgelun-Todd, Erin C. McGlade, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Diagnostic Neuroimaging Laboratory, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Veterans Affairs VISN 19 Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Salt Lake City, UT, USA.

Erin C. McGlade

Perry F. Renshaw, Deborah A. Yurgelun-Todd, Erin C. McGlade, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Diagnostic Neuroimaging Laboratory, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Veterans Affairs VISN 19 Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Salt Lake City, UT, USA.