Parental loss, depression and violence. III. Epidemiological studies of female prisoners.

Information was obtained from 95 incarcerated female prisoners on their history of violence, on their feelings of depression, their suicide attempts, and on their history of loss of parents. The data revealed that the loss of father before the age of 10 years was more highly correlated with signs of depression in these women prisoners than was loss of mother. Women who reported at least one suicide attempt in the past were significantly more depressed on the self-report measure of depression than the other women, and were more likely to be judged as violent on the basis of several independent indices. The results support the hypothesis that violence toward others and suicidal behavior are part of the same phenomenon of impairment in control mechanisms.