Early life stressors and suicidal ideation: Mediation by interpersonal risk factors

• Examined childhood abuse within the context of the interpersonal theory of suicide.
• Childhood emotional, but not physical or sexual, abuse predicted suicidal ideation.
• Perceived burdensomeness but not thwarted belongingness mediated this relationship.

Childhood abuse is a major public health concern that has been consistently associated with many deleterious outcomes, including suicidal ideation (SI) and behavior. The processes through which early abuse experiences confer risk for suicidality are unclear. Drawing on Joiner’s (2005) interpersonal theory of suicide, we hypothesized that the relationship between SI and childhood abuse would be specific to childhood emotional abuse, and that this relationship would be mediated by thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness. Participants (n = 189) with moderate to severe childhood abuse completed measures of childhood abuse, perceived burdensomeness, and lack of belongingness at the baseline assessment, and a measure of SI at a 7-week follow-up assessment. We found partial support for the study hypotheses. Childhood emotional abuse, but not childhood physical or sexual abuse, was found to be prospectively associated with SI. Perceived burdensomeness but not thwarted belongingness mediated this relationship. These findings suggest that the relationship between SI and childhood abuse may be specific to emotional abuse, and that this abuse subtype confers risk for ideation through increasing the individual’s sense of hindering or burdening to others within the social network. Implications of these findings are discussed.