Army - Kicking Tires On Jltv

Birth Era
May Factor
In Risk
Of Suicide
By Col. James Griffith, Army National Guard retired,
and Craig Bryan
The U.S. military has seen a marked increase in the
number of suicides among personnel. For example,
the suicide rate rose from 10.3 suicides per 100,000
service members in 2001 to 15.8 suicides per 100,000
service members in 2008. This 50 percent increase across all
the armed services was largely due to the suicide rate in the
U.S. Army, which doubled during the same time period.
Because the Army contributed substantially to ground
forces in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom,
many have speculated that the increased prevalence of suicide
was related to military personnel who were deployed, participated
in combat, or experienced an overall high operating
tempo. We argue that these factors do not necessarily explain
the rise in suicides in the U.S. military. Rather, the increase
indicates a broader trend of increased vulnerability among
more recent generations of young adults.
We elaborated on this argument in a paper we wrote for the
journal Armed Services and Society, and we presented it last fall
to the Inter-University on Armed Forces and Society, an international
organization that studies social and behavioral issues
involving the military. The following is a summary of our
findings.
Birth Cohort and Suicide
Sociologists Jean Stockard and Robert O’Brien suggested in
a 2002 article for the peer-reviewed academic journal Social
Forces that increased suicide rates among young adults in the
general population reflected generational declines in social integration
and behavioral regulation. Social integration entails
having access to predictable, stable and enduring social ties
that can provide support and relief to individuals during times
of stress. Behavioral regulation refers to the strength of norms
that determine the acceptability of certain behaviors. These
two processes formed the cornerstone of Emile Durkheim’s
analyses of suicides among Protestants and Catholics in Europe
during the late 19th century, documented in his 1897
treatise, Le Suicide.
Both social integration and behavioral regulation are influenced
by demographic trends. Increases in birth rates and single
parenthood may strain social institutions that promote social
integration and behavioral norms such as families, schools,
recreational clubs and religious organizations. There are more
children to care for, but fewer adults are involved. Children in
these generations have less attention and supervision while
growing up, and social integration and behavioral regulation
may be lessened.
Stockard and O’Brien found that people from generations
with these characteristics had relatively higher suicide rates
throughout their lives. Their first finding was that among more
recent birth cohorts, suicide rates in the U.S. population have
increased among teenagers and young adults. They studied the
distribution of suicides for age intervals in three time periods:
1930, 1965 and 2000. In 1930, the total U.S. population
showed progressively increased suicide rates from younger to
older age intervals. In 1960, a similar pattern of rates occurred
until ages 55 to 59, where the increase was less evident. In
2000, this pattern of increase was even less apparent.
U.S. Army/Pfc. William Hatton
February 2016 ■ ARMY 53