ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE AND SUICIDE

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This award will allow the Principal Investigator, Dr. Conner, to develop expertise in the study of suicide risk-identification in alcoholics. He will develop expertise through collaborative research and research training at the University of Rochester Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide (CSPS) and education and training in alcoholism research at the Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) in Buffalo, NY. He will also earn a Master's in Public Health degree. Following the award, his goal is to continue programmatic research on the identification of risk factors for suicide in alcoholics, to apply this knowledge in developing community and clinic-based risk-assessment and prevention strategies, and in the long-term to reduce suicide morbidity and mortality in alcoholics. He has chosen to focus on alcoholism, suicide and their association because of their profound public health significance. Alcohol use disorders are the most common psychiatric diagnosis among suicide victims under age 50 but very little is known about the risk factors for suicide in alcoholics. The proposed research is a case-control study of 60 alcohol-dependent suicide victims age 18-49 compared with 60 community controls and 60 clinic controls with alcohol dependence matched for gender, race and age. Cases will be from the population of all suicides in this age group identified over a 3 year period in Monroe County, NY (Rochester) and six surrounding rural counties identified by the Monroe County Medical Examiner. Information about cases and controls will be gathered using comparable methods of informant interviews, structured questionnaires, and record review. The study will test a model for suicide in alcoholism with four foci: aggression, depression, attachment disruption, and alcohol and drug misuse severity. Multiple logistic regression is the principal analytic strategy, with separate analyses for comparisons of suicide victims and clinic controls and community controls respectively.