Early parental discipline and adult self-destructive acts

Forty-five male inpatients with major depressive episodes by DSM-III criteria (296.2, 296.3, 296.5) were examined for correlates of inpatient self-destructive behavior. It was found that 44% of the variance for inpatient self-destructive acts could be accounted for by a combination of history of severe childhood discipline and parental conflict. Losses experienced during childhood were of less importance than these measures of family instability. Such information may be of use in the clinical prediction of self-destructive acts by depressed patients.