Research finding · February 2026
Chronic health conditions and mental health challenges affect suicide risk in adolescents
Living with a chronic health condition during adolescence can place significant demands on a young person’s emotional, social, and physical well-being. Managing symptoms, attending medical appointments, navigating school demands, and trying to maintain friendships can place a steady strain on emotional well-being. When these conditions co-occur with mental or neurodevelopmental disorders (i.e., a pattern known as multimorbidity) those strains can deepen. Youth with multimorbidity often navigate complex care systems, ongoing symptoms, disruptions to school and peer life, and heightened stress within their families. While prior research has shown that both physical illness and mental health conditions independently increase suicide risk, far less is known about how suicidal thoughts and behaviors show up among adolescents living with both. It also remains unclear which individual, family, and social factors further shape risk within this particularly vulnerable group.
To explore this question, Dr. Mark Ferro used his AFSP-funded grant to examine data from 3,535 Canadian youth aged 15 to 17 who participated in the nationally representative 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth. Of these adolescents, 1,041 reported multimorbidity, defined as having at least one chronic physical illness alongside a mental or neurodevelopmental disorder. Nearly half of youth with multimorbidity reported recent feelings of hopelessness, more than one in four reported suicidal thoughts, and almost one in five reported having attempted suicide in the past year, rates far higher than those seen among youth without chronic physical conditions. Certain experiences were linked to greater risk for suicidal thoughts and behavior, including being female, experiencing bullying or other forms of victimization, having a parent or guardian with poor mental health, and identifying as having a non-heterosexual sexual orientation. The results are consistent with a cumulative burden shaped by health challenges, social stress, and family context. Dr. Ferro highlighted the need for integrated, family-centered care that brings physical and mental health services together, along with early screening and supportive, affirming environments that can help reduce risk for youth managing multiple and intersecting challenges.
Citation: Fearon, D., Luther, A., Dubin, J. A., Duncan, L., Browne, D., Colman, I., & Ferro, M. A. (2025). Factors associated with suicidality among youth in Canada with co-occurring physical illness and mental/neurodevelopmental disorders. Psychiatry research, 354, 116785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2025.116785
This finding comes from an AFSP-funded study — see the grant below ↓
