Intergenerational conflicts and its impact on young people’s suicidal behaviour: a scoping review

Abstract

Familial factors have been studied to be an important risk factor for suicidal behaviour among young people. Within families, conflicts across generations have been found to have a significant impact on young people’s mental health and wellbeing. This scoping review aimed to identify existing literature examining intergenerational conflicts and its association with suicidal behaviour among young people aged 10–24 years. English articles related to intergenerational conflicts, suicide, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behaviour in a familial context experienced by young people have been included. OVID, PubMed, and Scopus databases were searched using relevant search terms and articles were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. On database search, four articles met the inclusion criteria and four more were included based on cross-referencing. Overall, eight studies were including in the synthesis of results. Significant positive association between intergenerational conflicts and suicidal ideation and behaviour among adolescents and young adults has been elucidated from the scoping review. Age-specific differences have been noted in the experience of conflicts, with adolescents primarily facing conflicts related to academic performance and cell phone usage and older youth facing conflicts about financial independence and interpersonal relationships. Females have been found to experience more intergenerational conflict and higher associated distress than males.

Keywords:

• Intergenerational conflict
• suicide
• suicidal ideation
• suicidal behaviour
• young people
• adolescents
• scoping review

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Mariwala Health Initiative.