There were several strengths of the analyses. The current study featured a prospective design, detailed diagnostic assessments, and interviews with both parents and offspring, representing the first such study in an AUD sample. We tested a theoretical model that examined interrelationships among predictors including potential parent-to-child pathways in addition to tests of relationships between predictors and the SA outcome. A history of SA was common among parents in the sample, underscoring the importance of examining intergenerational pathways to suicidal behavior in families with AUD. The direct and clear phrasing of the SA item in the current study, “Have you ever tried to kill yourself?”, likely elicited reports about suicidal acts containing at least some intent to die as opposed to more ubiquitous non-suicidal self-injury (Silverman, Berman, Sanddal et al., 2007), acknowledging that the phrasing of the SA item likely came at a cost to sensitivity.
