Correlates of Suicide Among Army National Guard Soldiers

Abstract

Associations among sociodemographic characteristics, mood, trauma-related experiences, and suicidal behaviors were examined with archival data from Army National Guard (ARNG) soldiers that included suicide cases combined with annual random samples of nonsuicide cases for calendar years 2007-2011 (N = 5,390); postdeployed ARNG soldiers (N = 4,567); and home-stationed ARNG soldiers (N = 15,597). Suicidal behavior was associated with demographic characteristics (e.g., young age, male, and White) and loss of a significant other; childhood abuse experiences moderated the relationship between current stressors and suicidal behavior; suicidal behavior appeared to be consistent across the deployment cycle.Suicide is a pressing problem for senior military leaders. Suicide rates for the U.S. military have been lower than age-matched civilian rates since World War II (Cassimatis & Rothberg, 1997). However, recent research suggest that military personnel involved in ground operations may be at higher risk for behavioral health problems including suicidal behavior (Department of Army, 2008). Suicide rates for the Army climbed from about 13.

How Distress Tolerance Mediates the Relationship Between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide Constructs in a U.S. Military Sample

“…Specifically, the U.S. Army National Guard not only saw an increase in suicides in 2015 with a rate of 29.2 per 100,000 (from 21.8 in 2014), but was the highest rate among all military component and services and is higher than the general population, compared to the same‐age and same‐sex peers (DoDSER, ). The National Guard has been a growing concern of military suicide researchers for the past 5 years, since their rise in suicide rates surpassed the already elevated active duty rates (Griffith, ; Griffith, ; Kline, Ciccone, Falca‐Dodson, Black, & Losonczy, ).…”

Financial Strain, Suicidal Thoughts, and Suicidal Behavior Among US Military Personnel in the National Guard

“…For example, Richardson, Elliott, and Roberts (2013) found much larger correlations between debt and suicidal behaviors than are typically observed for employment status and income level. Aligning with these trends, military research indicates that up to 15% of military suicide decedents had excessive debt or filed for bankruptcy in the 90 days preceding their deaths (DOD, 2016), approximately 10% of Army National Guard suicide decedents reported insufficient income during the preceding year (Griffith, 2012), and general financial strain was implicated in approximately 8% of all army suicides (Black, Gallaway, Bell, & Ritchie, 2011). These studies highlight the many ways that financial strain have be measured by researchers (e.g., excessive debt, bankruptcy, insufficient income).…”

Nonfatal Suicidal Behaviors in the Administrative Records of Activated U.S. Army National Guard and Army Reserve Soldiers, 2004–2009

“…A number of studies have examined correlates of suicide death among RC soldiers (Griffith, 2012a, 2012c, 2017). Findings on non-fatal suicidal events, which are among the strongest predictors of dying by suicide (Joiner et al, 2005; but see also Franklin et al, 2017), are based largely on self-report data from RC survey research (e.g., Calabrese et al, 2011; Griffith, 2012b; Kline, Ciccone, Falca-Dodson, Black, & Losonczy, 2011).…”