Citation

Cox KL, Nock MK, Biggs QM, Bornemann J, Colpe LJ, Dempsey CL, Heeringa SG, McCarroll JE, Ng TH, Schoenbaum M, Ursano RJ, Zhang BG, Benedek DM. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2016; 47(3): 257-265.

Affiliation

Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Department of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University School of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/sltb.12280

PMID

27447096

Abstract

Debate continues about the accuracy of American military suicide reporting due to concerns that some suicides may be classified as accidents to minimize stigma and ensure survivor benefits. We systematically reviewed records for 998 active duty Army deaths (510 suicides; 488 accident, homicide, and undetermined deaths; 2005-2009) and, using research criteria, reclassified 8.2% of the nonsuicide cases to definite suicide (1), suicide probable (4), or suicide possible (35). The reclassification rate to definite suicide was only 0.2% (1/488). This low rate suggests that flagrant misclassification of Army deaths is uncommon and surveillance reports likely reflect the "true" population of Army suicides.

© 2016 The American Association of Suicidology.

Language: en