title: Recent suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in a large-scale survey of the U.S. Air Force: prevalences and demographic risk factors.
abstract: One-year prevalences of self-reported noteworthy suicidal ideation and nonfatal suicide attempts were assessed in a large sample of U.S. Air Force active duty members (N = 52,780). Participants completed the 2006 Community Assessment, which was conducted online. Over 3% of male and 5.5% of female participants reported having experienced noteworthy suicidal ideation during the previous year, and 8.7% of those with ideation reported a recent suicide attempt. Demographic factors predicting significantly increased risk for suicidal ideation included female gender, low rank, and non-Christian religious affiliation; unmarried men were also at increased risk. Groups that were at increased risk for nonfatal suicide attempts included low-ranking men and Hispanic women. Implications for prevention efforts are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Family Translational Research Group, Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794–2500, USA. jsnarr@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
authors.forename: Jeffery D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Snarr
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Heyman
authors.forename: Amy M Smith
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Slep
mesh_terms: D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000523:psychology; D012067:Religion; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology