Circumstances Preceding Suicide in U.S. Soldiers: A Qualitative Analysis of Narrative Data

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Psychol Serv
• Personal Author:
  Skopp, Nancy A. ; Holland, Kristin M. ; Logan, Joseph E. ; Alexander, Cynthia L. ; Floyd, C. Faye
• Description:
  To gain a better understanding of military suicide, we examined suicide narratives for 135 Soldiers extracted from two large-scale surveillance systems: the Department of Defense Suicide Event Report (DoDSER) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). Using coroner/medical examiner and law enforcement narratives captured in the NVDRS and mental health provider narrative data collected across multiple domains from the DoDSER, we examined circumstances surrounding military suicides using a qualitative content analysis approach. We identified five common proximal circumstances: (1) intimate partner relationship problems (63.0%); (2) mental health/substance abuse (51.9%); (3) military job-related (46.7%); (4) financial (17.8%); and (5) criminal/legal activity (16.3%). Evidence of premeditation was present in 37.0% of suicides. Decedents frequently struggled with multiple, high-stress problems and exhibited symptoms of coping and emotion regulation difficulties. Findings demonstrate potential points of intervention for suicide prevention strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
• Subjects:
  Adaptation, Psychological Adolescent Adult Affective Symptoms Female Humans Interpersonal Relations Male Mental Disorders Middle Aged Military Personnel Personal Narratives As Topic Qualitative Research Suicide United States Young Adult

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• Keywords:
  Emotion Regulation Prevention Qualitative Research Suicide Risk U.S. Soldiers
• Source:
  Psychol Serv. 16(2):302-311
• Pubmed ID:
  30372092
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11558781
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  16
• Issue:
  2
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d8564ecafc6b91eee424d64930ba5a90a0470c7e3da89b8bcb6be38ffeae0ac4618b2058df80a2c267a1924039f44a9d82852dbf7b841ee615ebc53975631301
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/169978/cdc_169978_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 117.27 KB ]