By the Numbers - January 22, 2013
53%
The percentage of military suicides in 2008-2010 by servicemembers who had never deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, according to a recent article in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior -- Suicides and Suicide Attempts in the U.S. Military, 2008–2010. According to the article:
Research examining deployment as a risk factor for suicide is mixed and suffers from a number of methodological problems (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2008). In general, however, epidemiological studies from prior military eras have not supported deployment as a risk factor when populations are considered as a whole (as opposed to analyzing subgroups such as injured cohorts; Kang & Bullman, 2009). Our study design did not permit a determination of whether deployment is a risk factor for suicide. However, most suicides (87%) did occur outside of the Iraq or Afghanistan combat theaters, and 53% of suicides had no history of OIF/OIF deployment at all.
53%
The percentage of military suicides in 2008-2010 by servicemembers who had never deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, according to a recent article in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior -- Suicides and Suicide Attempts in the U.S. Military, 2008–2010. According to the article:
Research examining deployment as a risk factor for suicide is mixed and suffers from a number of methodological problems (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2008). In general, however, epidemiological studies from prior military eras have not supported deployment as a risk factor when populations are considered as a whole (as opposed to analyzing subgroups such as injured cohorts; Kang & Bullman, 2009). Our study design did not permit a determination of whether deployment is a risk factor for suicide. However, most suicides (87%) did occur outside of the Iraq or Afghanistan combat theaters, and 53% of suicides had no history of OIF/OIF deployment at all.