The AP (7/9, Tanner) reports, “War-time suicide attempts in the Army are most common in newer enlisted soldiers who have not been deployed, while officers are less likely to try to end their lives,” according to a study published online July 8 in JAMA Psychiatry. After analyzing “records on nearly 10,000 suicide attempts among almost one million active-duty Army members during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, from 2004 to 2009,” researchers also found that suicide “attempts are more common among women and those without a high school diploma.”
The CBS News (7/9, Welch) website reports that “rates of attempted suicide were lower among black, Hispanic, and Asian soldiers,” the study found. The study’s lead author “said that future research will focus on the reasons why women are at a greater risk of attempted suicide, why the risk is lower among deployed soldiers, and which mental health disorders carry the highest risk.”
Related Links:
— “SUICIDE ATTEMPTS MOST COMMON IN NEWER SOLDIERS, STUDY FOUND,” Lindsey Tanner, Asssociated Press, July 8, 2015.