Citation

Berg AM, Hem E, Lau B, Loeb M, Ekeberg O. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2003; 33(3): 302-312.

Affiliation

National Police Academy, Oslo, Norway. anne.m.berg@politihs.no

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

14582840

Abstract

Studies on suicide among police show inconsistent results, thereby contributing to considerable speculation regarding why police officers commit suicide. The present paper is the first nationwide study on suicidal ideation and attempts among police. 3,272 Norwegian police completed Paykel's Suicidal Feelings in the General Population questionnaire. Lifetime prevalence of specific questionnaire items ranged from 24% for the feeling that life was not worth living, 6.4% for having seriously considered suicide, and 0.7% for attempted suicide. Independent predictors of serious suicidal ideation were marital status, subjective health complaints, reality weakness, anxiety, and depression. Serious suicidal ideation was mainly attributed to personal and family problems.