SUICIDE PREVENTION IN THE MILITARY

Suicide Prevention in the Military

Abstract

Since 2004, suicides in the U.S. military have risen, most notably in the Army National Guard (ARNG). Data used in this study were obtained for suicides occurring from 2007 to 2010 and for a random sample of nonsuicides from the general ARNG population. Of the military-related variables considered, a few showed relationships to suicide. Rather, the primary variables associated with suicide were soldier background characteristics, including age (17-24 years), race (White), and gender (male). Cluster analysis revealed two distinct suicide groups: “careerists” (about one third of all suicides) and “first-termers” (about two thirds of all suicides), each group exhibiting different concurrent behavioral problems. Since World War II, suicide rates in the U.S. military have been lower than age-matched civilian rates. In fact, during wartime, suicide rates in the military generally have declined. Yet, in 2004, when the United States was engaged in warfare in both Iraq and Afghanistan, military suicide rates rose to 20.2 per 100,000. In 2008, military suicide rates surpassed the civilian age-adjusted rate of 19.2 per 100,000. Within the military services, rates for the Marine Corps and the Army first showed increases starting in 2001. Suicide rates for the Army climbed from about 13.7 per 100,000 in 2005 to 20.2 in 2008 (U.S. Army, Office of the Chief of Public Affairs, 2010)—higher than the most recently available suicide rate for matched age civilian population at 19.2 per 100,000

Table of Contents

Abstract2

Introduction4

Materials And Methods6

Results9

Discussion and Analysis12

Conclusion15

References17

Suicide Prevention in the Military

Introduction

Theoretical perspectives of suicide are instructive in the examination of suicide in the Army. One perspective is the stressor-strain model. Deployments, both the number and the length, and combat events expose soldiers to stressors, and hence, they experience strain and distress.

Consistent with this approach, those components (the Army and Marine Corps) having endured much of the ground combat operations in Iraq and in Afghanistan first showed increased suicide rates. Research has shown deployment experiences, such as the number and the length and combat engagements, are associated with increased posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related symptoms. A widely held view in mental health is that trauma negatively impacts later health and well-being. This view is supported by numerous studies that have shown associations between war trauma and later depression and PTSD, often linked with suicide ideations (Alston, 2006).

Another perspective on suicide is a set of theoretical explanations relying on social connections between the suicide and the individual's reference groups (e.g., family, work setting, social and religious organizations), which provide the individual with a sense of belonging, meaning and purpose, and sense of self. Lacking these connections, the individual experiences estrangement and can becomes socially marginalized, often increasing the risk for suicide. Such processes form the cornerstone of both Durkheim's “social control” theory (1897/1951) and Joiner's more contemporary interpersonal-psychological theory.

To Durkheim, suicide was explained by the lack of social integration and normative regulation of behavior. To Joiner (2009), suicide was explained by psychological conditions, largely related to social ...