Work absence in parents of youth who self-harm

Self-harm is a prevalent health concern among youths, with significant psychosocial impacts on both youths and their parents. The aim of this study is to describe the impact of offspring self-harm on parental work absence.

This cohort study included 176 472 mothers and 161 833 fathers of 17 726 youths with a first self-harm diagnosis between the years of 2006 and 2016 and 177 260 matched youths without self-harm. It examined work absence due to family leave to care for a sick child and sick leave, before and after the child's self-harm. Data were sourced from Swedish population-based registers. Conditional Poisson regression, adjusting for potential confounders, was used to analyse associations between self-harm and work absence in parents of youth with and without self-harm after the self-harm event, as well as in parents of self-harming youth before and after the self-harm event.

Parents of both sexes experienced work absence. Nevertheless, mothers were particularly affected. Youth self-harm was linked to increased family leave (rate ratios: mothers 3.47 (95% CI 3.25 to 3.72), fathers 2.71 (2.47 to 2.98)) and sick leave (mothers 1.25 (1.20 to 1.31), fathers 1.25 (1.17 to 1.33)). Parents of affected youth took more family leave during the self-harm year compared with the previous year (mothers 1.65 (1.55 to 1.75), fathers 1.41 (1.29 to 1.54)), with no corresponding rise in sick leave.

Parents of self-harming youths experience increased work absence, especially family leave, peaking around self-harm events. These results highlight the broader impact of youth self-harm on families and the need for support systems addressing both youth and caregiver well-being and work-life balance.