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Childhood cognitive skill trajectories and suicide by mid-adulthood: an investigation of the 1958 British Birth Cohort

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2019

Stéphane Richard-Devantoy Open the ORCID record for Stéphane Richard-Devantoy [Opens in a new window] ,
Massimiliano Orri ,
Josie-Anne Bertrand ,
Kyle T. Greenway ,
Gustavo Turecki ,
David Gunnell ,
Chris Power  and
Marie-Claude Geoffroy
Stéphane Richard-Devantoy
Affiliation:
McGill University & Douglas Mental Health University Research Institute, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Montréal, Québec, Canada CISSS des Laurentides, St-Jerome, Quebec, Canada
Massimiliano Orri
Affiliation:
McGill University & Douglas Mental Health University Research Institute, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Montréal, Québec, Canada Bordeaux Population Health Research Centre, Inserm U1219, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
Josie-Anne Bertrand
Affiliation:
CISSS des Laurentides, St-Jerome, Quebec, Canada The Douglas Research Center, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Kyle T. Greenway
Affiliation:
McGill University & Douglas Mental Health University Research Institute, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Gustavo Turecki
Affiliation:
McGill University & Douglas Mental Health University Research Institute, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Montréal, Québec, Canada
David Gunnell
Affiliation:
Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK National Institute of Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Chris Power
Affiliation:
Population, Policy and Practice, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK
Marie-Claude Geoffroy*
Affiliation:
McGill University & Douglas Mental Health University Research Institute, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Montréal, Québec, Canada Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
*
Author for correspondence: Marie-Claude Geoffroy, E-mail: marie-claude.geoffroy@mcgill.ca
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Abstract

Background

Poor cognitive abilities and low intellectual quotient (IQ) are associated with an increased risk of suicide attempts and suicide mortality. However, knowledge of how this association develops across the life-course is limited. Our study aims to establish whether individuals who died by suicide by mid-adulthood are distinguishable by their child-to-adolescence cognitive trajectories.

Methods

Participants were from the 1958 British Birth Cohort and were assessed for academic performance at ages 7, 11, and 16 and intelligence at 11 years. Suicides occurring by September 2012 were identified from linked national death certificates. We compared mean mathematics and reading abilities and rate of change across 7–16 years for individuals who died by suicide v. those still alive, with and without adjustment for potential early-life confounding factors. Analyses were based on 14 505 participants.

Results

Fifty-five participants (48 males) had died by suicide by age 54 years. While males who died by suicide did not differ from participants still alive in reading scores at age 7 [effect size (g) = −0.04, p = 0.759], their reading scores had a less steep improvement up to age 16 compared to other participants. Adjustments for early-life confounding factors explained these differences. A similar pattern was observed for mathematics scores. There was no difference between individuals who died by suicide v. participants still alive on intelligence at 11 years.

Conclusions

While no differences in tests of academic performance and IQ were observed, individuals who died by suicide had a less steep improvement in reading abilities over time compared to same-age peers.

Keywords

Academic performancebirth cohortcognitioncognitive abilitiescohort studiesearly-life influencesintelligencelongitudinal studymathematicsreadingsuicide
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , February 2021 , pp. 400 - 407
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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