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Showing posts with label Combat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Combat. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Perspectives on Suicide in the Army National Guard

By James Griffith & Mark Vaitkus
Armed Forces & Society published online 22 February 2013

Abstract

Suicides in the US military were observed rising in 2004, most notably in the Army and Marine Corps, and particularly, in the Army National Guard (ARNG). Alarmed, Army leaders and researchers have offered various explanations and prescriptions, often lacking any evidence. In the present study, three data sets were used to examine evidence for various perspectives on suicide—dispositional risk, social
cognitive, stressor-strain, and social cultural/institutional, each having different emphases on relevant explanatory variables and underlying mechanisms of suicide. Primary risk factors associated with having committed suicide among the 2007–2010 ARNG suicide cases were age (young), gender (male), and race (white), supporting the dispositional risk perspective on suicide. Some evidence supported the stressor-strain perspective in that postdeployment loss of a significant other and a
major life change showed statistically significant, yet weaker associations with increased suicide intentions. Implications of results are discussed for future research and preventive strategies.

Here is part of the discussion:

Military-related variables, including having been deployed and combat exposure, showed little relationship to suicide. These findings are consistent with analyses of the active component Army suicides. US Army Public Health Command has consistently reported suicide cases as occurring disproportionally among males, Caucasians, younger in age (eighteen to twenty-four years), and often having an untreated behavioral condition and/or substance abuse.

The entire journal article is here.