Emerging Ideas. Suicidal ideation among partnered U.S. adults by sexual identity

• Published date: 01 December 2024
• Author: Alexandra M. VanBergen,Claire Kamp Dush,Wendy Manning
• Date: 01 December 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.13060

BRIEF REPORT

Emerging Ideas. Suicidal ideation among partnered

U.S. adults by sexual identity

Alexandra M. VanBergen

1

| Claire Kamp Dush

1,2

|

Wendy Manning

3

1

Institute for Social Research and Data

Innovation, University of Minnesota,

Minneapolis, MN

2

Department of Sociology, University of

Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

3

Department of Sociology, Bowling Green

State University, Bowling Green, OH

Correspondence

Alexandra M. VanBergen, Institute for Social

Research and Data Innovation, University of

Minnesota, 225 S. 19th Avenue, Minneapolis,

MN 55455, USA.

Email: avanberg@umn.edu

Funding information

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of

Child Health and Human Development,

Grant/Award Number: R01HD094081

Abstract

Objective: We estimate the prevalence of suicidal ideation

among partnered U.S. adults overall and by sexual identity

using a population-representative sample of cohabiting

and married adults.

Background: Intimate partner problems and other aspects

of intimate relationships are substantial precipitating fac-

tors to suicide. Even so, there are currently no family-

based interventions targeting suicide risk among adults;

this may be because little is known as to how prevalent sui-

cidal ideation and behaviors are in the context of intimate

relationships. Sexually diverse adults show higher propor-

tions of suicidal ideation than heterosexual adults.

Method: Weighted logistic regression was used to analyze

data from a subsample of the National Couples’Health

and Time Study (n=3,618), a population-representative

sample of cohabiting and married adults. Unadjusted and

model-adjusted prevalence estimates for suicidal ideation

(thoughts and plans) were calculated.

Results: The model adjusted prevalence estimates for suicide

thoughts and plans were similar to estimates among general

population samples. Bisexual and queer+respondents had

double the odds of reporting suicide thoughts and plans com-

pared with gay, lesbian, and heterosexual respondents.

Conclusions: Cohabiting and married adults showed a simi-

lar prevalence of suicidal ideation as the general population.

Bisexual and queer+adults are a growing U.S. population

and require unique attention because they confront higher

Author note: We acknowledge members of the National Couples’Health and Time Study Writing Group for their feedback on previous

drafts of the current manuscript.

Received: 18 July 2023 Revised: 29 November 2023 Accepted: 30 December 2023

DOI: 10.1111/fare.13060

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits

use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or

adaptations are made.

© 2024 The Author(s). Family Relations published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Council on Family Relations.

3148 Family Relations. 2024;73:3148–3158.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare