Future research studies should continue to explore the nuances of parental mental health history in relation to adolescent suicide outcomes. Important questions that were beyond the scope of this study include specific risks associated with different types of parental mental health problems (depression/anxiety vs. substance abuse/conduct problems) as well as the timing of the parents’ illness (i.e., during the child’s lifetime vs. before the child was born, illness during critical periods of child development such as infancy and adolescence, and proximity of parental illness to the child’s suicidal crisis). Additional research aimed at exploring these questions is needed to further define the effects of parental mental health history on adolescent suicide outcomes.
