An Examination of Potential Misclassification of Army Suicides: Results from the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers |
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| Authors: | Kenneth L. Cox MD MPH Matthew K. Nock PhD Quinn M. Biggs PhD MPH Jennifer Bornemann MSSW Lisa J. Colpe PhD MPH Catherine L. Dempsey PhD MPH Steven G. Heeringa PhD James E. McCarroll PhD MPH Tsz Hin Ng MPH Michael Schoenbaum PhD Robert J. Ursano MD Bailey G. Zhang MS David M. Benedek MD the Army STARRS Collaborators |
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| Affiliation: | 1. US Army Public Health Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, MD, USA;2. Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA;3. Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Department of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University School of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA;4. National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA;5. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA |
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| Abstract: | Debate continues about the accuracy of military suicide reporting due to concerns that some suicides may be classified as accidents to minimize stigma and ensure survivor benefits. We systematically reviewed records for 998 active duty Army deaths (510 suicides; 488 accident, homicide, and undetermined deaths; 2005‐2009) and, using research criteria, reclassified 8.2% of the nonsuicide cases to definite suicide (1), suicide probable (4), or suicide possible (35). The reclassification rate to definite suicide was only 0.2% (1/488). This low rate suggests that flagrant misclassification of Army deaths is uncommon and surveillance reports likely reflect the “true” population of Army suicides. |
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