Military Identity, Social Connectedness and Risk for Suicide in Chicagoland Veterans

Suicides in the military have increased over the last ten years. Much effort has been focused on suicide prevention and treatment, as well as understanding the reasons for the sharp increase in military suicides. Some literature on suicide prevention has focused on connectedness, the degree to which a person or group is socially close, interrelated or shares resources with other persons or groups. For individuals who have served in the military, the strong sense of social connectedness felt during military service is often lost during the transition out of the military. A strong sense of military identity, which can often be difficult to navigate in civilian culture, may also contribute to such difficulties. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between military identity and social connectedness as well as each as possible predictors of suicidal behavior in veterans.

Data were collected on 1295 veterans living in the Chicago area using an online and in person survey. Participants were identified through a social media campaign, organizations and agencies that serve veterans as well as college veteran groups. Suicidal behavior was measured by the Suicide Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (Osman et al., 2001) with a score of at least 7 indicating high risk suicidal behavior. Social Connectedness was measured by the Social Connectedness Scale (Lee and Robbins, 1995). The six subscales of the Warrior Identity Scale measured military identity – these include Exploration and Commitment (learning and commitment to military), Public Regard (how you think the public view the military), Private Regard (how you view your actions/place in the military), Centrality (importance of military to self), Interdependence (dependence on/connectedness to military) and Identity Scale (Lancaster and Hart, 2015).

            Veterans who indicated low levels of social connectedness were 7.417 times more likely to score above the clinically significant cut off of the SBQ-R, indicating a clear association between social connectedness and suicidal behavior. When looking at military identity and social connectedness, Military Public Regard, Military Private Regard, and Military Dependence significantly predicted challenges to social connectedness when controlling for age, marital status and gender. This indicated that participants who felt less positive about how they were viewed as veterans, less positive about their participation in the military, and were more dependent on the military for connectedness were more likely to report low levels of social connectedness. When looking at social connectedness and military identity as a predicator of suicide risk, social connectedness, military private regard and military dependence were significant predictors of suicide risk when controlling for age, gender and marital status. Therefore participants who reported low levels of social connectedness, were less positive about their participation in the military and more dependent on the military for connectedness were more likely to report significant levels of risky suicidal behavior. Results suggest intervention should be aimed at guiding veterans through transition regarding building social networks/connectedness and navigating their military identity in the civilian culture.