Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct;51(5):940-954.
doi: 10.1111/sltb.12778. Epub 2021 Jul 1.

Social closeness and support are associated with lower risk of suicide among U.S. Army soldiers

Catherine L Dempsey  1   2 , David M Benedek  1 , Matthew K Nock  3 , Kelly L Zuromski  3 , David A Brent  4 , Jingning Ao  2 , Pablo A Aliaga  2 , Steven G Heeringa  5 , Ronald C Kessler  6 , Murray B Stein  7   8 , Robert J Ursano  1
Affiliations

Social closeness and support are associated with lower risk of suicide among U.S. Army soldiers

Catherine L Dempsey et al. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: We tested the aspects of social support, unit cohesion, and religiosity hypothesized to be protective factors for suicide among U.S. service members.

Methods: This case-control study compared U.S. Army soldiers who died by suicide while on active duty (n = 135) to controls of two types: those propensity score-matched on known sociodemographic risk factors (n = 128); and those controls who had thought about, but not died by, suicide in the past year (n = 108). Data included structured interviews of next of kin (NOK) and Army supervisors (SUP) for each case and control soldier. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine predictors of suicide.

Results: Perceived social closeness and seeking help from others were associated with decreased odds of suicide, as reported by SUP (OR = 0.2 [95% CI = 0.1, 0.5]) and NOK (OR = 0.4 [95% CI = 0.2, 0.8]). Novel reports by SUP informants of high levels of unit cohesion/morale decreased odds of suicide (OR = 0.1 [95% CI = 0.0, 0.2]). Contrary to study hypotheses, no religious affiliation was associated with lower odds of suicide (OR = 0.3 [95% CI = 0.2, 0.6]).

Conclusions: Perceived social closeness and unit/group cohesion are associated with lower odds of suicide. These results point toward social intervention strategies as testable components of suicide prevention programs.

Keywords: military, religiosity; social support; suicide; unit cohesion, psychological autopsy.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Benjamini Y, & Hochberg Y (1995). Controlling the false discovery rate: A practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B (Methodological), 57(1), 289–300. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2346101
    1. Brailey K, Vasterling JJ, Proctor SP, Constans JI, & Friedman MJ (2007). PTSD symptoms, life events, and unit cohesion in U.S. soldiers: Baseline findings from the neurocognition deployment health study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 20(4), 495–503. doi:10.1002/jts.20234 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bryan CJ, & Hernandez AM (2013). The Functions of Social Support as Protective Factors for Suicidal Ideation in a Sample of Air Force Personnel. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 43(5), 562–573. doi:10.1111/sltb.12039 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Campbell-Sills L, Flynn PJ, Choi KW, Ng THH, Aliaga PA, Broshek C, … Bliese PD (2020). Unit cohesion during deployment and post-deployment mental health: Is cohesion an individual- or unit-level buffer for combat-exposed soldiers? Psychological Medicine, 1–11. doi:10.1017/s0033291720001786 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cavanagh JT, Carson AJ, Sharpe M, & Lawrie SM (2003). Psychological autopsy studies of suicide: a systematic review. Psychological Medicine, 33(3), 395–405. - PubMed

Publication types