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. At both levels, attempts are more common among women and those without a high school diploma, according to a study billed as the most comprehensive analysis of a problem that has plagued the U.S. military in recent years.
Suicides in the military have gotten the most attention, but attempts are more prevalent and sometimes have different contributing factors. They're "an opportunity to intervene," said Dr. Robert Ursano, psychiatry chairman at the Uniformed Services University and the study's lead author.
The study analyzed records on nearly 10,000 suicide attempts among almost 1 million active-duty Army members during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, from 2004 to 2009. That compares with 569 Army suicide deaths during the same period reported by researchers last year in a different phase of the same study. Rates for both increased during that time.
[For more of this story, written by Lindsey Tanner, go to http://www.chron.com/health/ar...soldiers-6373066.php]
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