Medically Documented Suicide Ideation Among U.S. Army Soldiers |
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| Authors: | Robert J Ursano MD Ronald C Kessler PhD Murray B Stein MD MPH James A Naifeh PhD Matthew K Nock PhD Pablo A Aliaga MS Carol S Fullerton PhD Gary H Wynn MD Tsz Hin Hinz Ng MPH Hieu M Dinh BS Nancy A Sampson BA Tzu‐Cheg Kao PhD Michael Schoenbaum PhD James E McCarroll PhD MPH Kenneth L Cox MD MPH Steven G Heeringa PhD the Army STARRS collaborators |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Psychiatry, Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA;2. Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA;3. Department of Psychiatry and Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA;4. VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA;5. Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA;6. Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA;7. National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA;8. U.S. Army Public Health Center (Provisional), Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA;9. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA |
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| Abstract: | We used administrative data to examine predictors of medically documented suicide ideation (SI) among Regular Army soldiers from 2006 through 2009 (N = 10,466 ideators, 124,959 control person‐months). Enlisted ideators (97.8% of all cases) were more likely than controls to be female, younger, older when entering service, less educated, never or previously deployed, and have a recent mental health diagnosis. Officer ideators were more likely than controls to be female, younger, younger when entering service, never married, and have a recent mental health diagnosis. Risk among enlisted soldiers peaked in the second month of service and declined steadily, whereas risk among officers remained relatively stable over time. Risk of SI is highest among enlisted soldiers early in Army service, females, and those with a recent mental health diagnosis. |
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