The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) is a large, multi-site study of 17,854 participants from 2,255 families affected with AUD, designed to identify and understand genetic factors involved in the predisposition to alcoholism and related disorders, as previously described [34–36]. Participants 18 or older completed the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism (SSAGA) which is a poly-diagnostic interview [34], and participants ages 12–17 completed an adolescent SSAGA. All participants were queried about whether they had “ever tried to kill” themselves (suicide attempt), regardless of a history of suicidal ideation (i.e., thoughts about killing yourself). Importantly, suicide attempt items were not exclusively nested within the diagnostic section for major depressive disorder (MDD), although individuals who reported suicide attempts in that section were coded accordingly as having reported the behavior.
