Attempted suicide among adolescents in military families: The mediating role of adverse childhood experiences

Clements-Nolle, K., Lensch, T., Yang, Y., Martin, H., Peek, J., & Yang, W. (2020). Attempted suicide among adolescents in military families: The mediating role of adverse childhood experiences. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 36(23-24), 11743-11754. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519900976

Previous research has shown that adolescents in military families are at greater risk of attempted suicide. However, it is not clear whether this increased risk is related to factors unique to the military context (e.g., parental deployment) or other factors that have been linked to suicide risk in civilian populations, such as adverse childhood experiences. Adverse childhood experiences are traumatic childhood events, like experiencing physical or sexual abuse, or witnessing domestic violence, that often have a long-term impact. This study explored the links between military family membership, exposure to adverse childhood experiences, and risk of attempted suicide in a sample of 5,030 high school students (4.5% were from military families). The results suggest that exposure to adverse childhood experiences explain the increased risk for adolescents attempted suicide in military families.

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