"New government research shows that female
military veterans commit suicide at nearly six times the rate of other women, a
startling finding that experts say poses disturbing questions about the
backgrounds and experiences of women who serve in the armed forces.
Their suicide rate is so high that it
approaches that of male veterans, a finding that surprised researchers because
men generally are far more likely than women to commit suicide.
"It's staggering," said Dr. Matthew
Miller, an epidemiologist and suicide expert at Northeastern University who was
not involved in the research. "We have to come to grips with why the rates
are so obscenely high."
Though suicide has become a major issue for
the military over the last decade, most research by the Pentagon and the
Veterans Affairs Department has focused on men, who account for more than 90%
of the nation's 22 million former troops. Little has been known about female
veteran suicide.
The rates are highest among young veterans,
the VA found in new research compiling 11 years of data. For women ages 18 to
29, veterans kill themselves at nearly 12 times the rate of nonveterans.
In every other age group, including women who
served as far back as the 1950s, the veteran rates are between four and eight times
higher, indicating that the causes extend far beyond the psychological effects
of the recent wars.
The data include all 173,969 adult suicides —
men and women, veterans and nonveterans — in 23 states between 2000 and 2010.
It is not clear what is driving the rates. VA
researchers and experts who reviewed the data for The Times said there were
myriad possibilities, including whether the military had disproportionately
drawn women at higher suicide risk and whether sexual assault and other
traumatic experiences while serving played a role."
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