ABSTRACT
Background@#Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the military as in the general population. To mitigate such a serious public health problem, identifying the risk or protective factors of suicide behaviors is crucial. @*Methods@#We analyzed the representative data of the 2014 Korean Armed Forces to explore the relationship between past year adverse events (PAE), accumulated lifetime trauma (ALT), mental illness vulnerability, perceived social support, and suicidal ideation in the previous year. @*Results@#Among the 6,377 subjects, 3.7% of males and 6.2% of females reported suicidal ideation in the previous year. Multivariate analytic models identified significant associations of PAE and ALT with suicidal ideation with a dose-response pattern. The mental illness vulnerability showed the most significant association with suicidal ideation even after controlling PAE or ALT. We found that perceived social support may be potentially linked with a reduced risk of suicidal ideation. @*Conclusion@#This Korean military representative data demonstrates mental illness vulnerability; PAE; and lifetime trauma as significant risk factors of suicidal ideation, while perceived social support was found as a potential protective factor. Given the importance of the prevention of suicide in the military, those risk and protective factors may be used to screen soldiers at risk of suicide and provide further support on mental health services as needed.
ABSTRACT
Background@#Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the military as in the general population. To mitigate such a serious public health problem, identifying the risk or protective factors of suicide behaviors is crucial. @*Methods@#We analyzed the representative data of the 2014 Korean Armed Forces to explore the relationship between past year adverse events (PAE), accumulated lifetime trauma (ALT), mental illness vulnerability, perceived social support, and suicidal ideation in the previous year. @*Results@#Among the 6,377 subjects, 3.7% of males and 6.2% of females reported suicidal ideation in the previous year. Multivariate analytic models identified significant associations of PAE and ALT with suicidal ideation with a dose-response pattern. The mental illness vulnerability showed the most significant association with suicidal ideation even after controlling PAE or ALT. We found that perceived social support may be potentially linked with a reduced risk of suicidal ideation. @*Conclusion@#This Korean military representative data demonstrates mental illness vulnerability; PAE; and lifetime trauma as significant risk factors of suicidal ideation, while perceived social support was found as a potential protective factor. Given the importance of the prevention of suicide in the military, those risk and protective factors may be used to screen soldiers at risk of suicide and provide further support on mental health services as needed.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: This study investigated whether the resilience of males with probable bipolar depression (PBD) can be strengthened and compared it to that of males with probable unipolar depression (PUD). METHODS: Prospective data for 198 participants (PBD: 66, PUD: 66, normal control: 66) were analyzed. The participants' resilience, bipolarity and severity of depressive symptoms were evaluated at baseline and after 5 weeks. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and repeated measure ANOVA was performed for comparing resilience between three groups through a basic military training. RESULTS: The PBD group demonstrated more resilience than the PUD group at baseline. Participants with PBD became significantly more resilient than participants with PUD after 5 weeks (p<0.01, F=6.967, η²(p)=0.052). CONCLUSION: The study indicates that interventions that strengthen resilience need to be developed for males with PBD and that such interventions are more effective for males with PBD than PUD.