IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v260y2020ics027795362030397x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender differences in the development of suicidal behavior among United States military veterans: A national qualitative study

Author

Listed:
  • Denneson, Lauren M.
  • Tompkins, Kyla J.
  • McDonald, Katie L.
  • Hoffmire, Claire A.
  • Britton, Peter C.
  • Carlson, Kathleen F.
  • Smolenski, Derek J.
  • Dobscha, Steven K.

Abstract

Rationale: The rate of suicide mortality among women is increasing in the United States (U.S.), especially among military veterans. Prior research suggests that important gender differences in suicide risk exist, but not enough is known to tailor prevention approaches by gender. Objective: The goal of this study is to understand gender differences in the development of suicidal behaviors (suicide risk) among U.S. veterans to inform future research and gender-tailored prevention efforts. Methods: Using a modified grounded theory approach, this qualitative study interviewed 50 (25 men, 25 women) U.S. veterans who had made a recent (prior 6 months) suicide attempt. Veterans were recruited from Veterans Health Administration (VHA) healthcare facilities across the U.S. Semi-structured, hour-long interviews examined participants' experiences with military service, suicidal thoughts and attempts, and healthcare following their attempt. Results: The analysis revealed two gendered narratives of suicidal thoughts and attempts that incorporated the primary themes of self-concept, social power, relationships, coping, and stress. When discussing reasons for their suicide attempts, women discussed negative self-evaluative processes describing themselves as, “shameful,” “tainted,” and “worthless,” whereas men discussed becoming overwhelmed, and recalled thinking, “it just wasn't worth it,” “I've had enough,” and, “screw this.” Conclusions: This study provides an in-depth, nuanced understanding of the gender differences in suicide risk among veterans and suggests several ways in which future work may address gender-tailored suicide prevention efforts. Specifically, women veterans may benefit from methods to increase self-worth through positive social relationships, while men veterans may benefit from methods that increase their sense of purpose in life and help them achieve their ideal selves through successful experiences.

Suggested Citation

  • Denneson, Lauren M. & Tompkins, Kyla J. & McDonald, Katie L. & Hoffmire, Claire A. & Britton, Peter C. & Carlson, Kathleen F. & Smolenski, Derek J. & Dobscha, Steven K., 2020. "Gender differences in the development of suicidal behavior among United States military veterans: A national qualitative study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:260:y:2020:i:c:s027795362030397x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113178
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795362030397X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113178?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Purtle, Jonathan, 2016. "“Heroes' invisible wounds of war:” constructions of posttraumatic stress disorder in the text of US federal legislation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 9-16.
    2. Hennie Boeije, 2002. "A Purposeful Approach to the Constant Comparative Method in the Analysis of Qualitative Interviews," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 391-409, November.
    3. Vandoros, Sotiris & Avendano, Mauricio & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2019. "The association between economic uncertainty and suicide in the short-run," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 403-410.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vogt, Dawne & Borowski, Shelby C. & Godier-McBard, Lauren R. & Fossey, Matt J. & Copeland, Laurel A. & Perkins, Daniel F. & Finley, Erin P., 2022. "Changes in the health and broader well-being of U.S. veterans in the first three years after leaving military service: Overall trends and group differences," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maider Belintxon & Nisha Dogra & Paula McGee & Maria Jesus Pumar‐Mendez & Olga Lopez‐Dicastillo, 2020. "Encounters between children's nurses and culturally diverse parents in primary health care," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(2), pages 273-282, June.
    2. Julia Veidt & Steven Lam & Hung Nguyen-Viet & Tran Thi Tuyet-Hanh & Huong Nguyen-Mai & Sherilee L. Harper, 2018. "Is Agricultural Intensification a Growing Health Concern? Perceptions from Waste Management Stakeholders in Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-13, November.
    3. Federico Belotti & Joanna Kopinska & Alessandro Palma & Andrea Piano Mortari, 2022. "Health status and the Great Recession. Evidence from electronic health records," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(8), pages 1770-1799, August.
    4. Iversen, Sara V. & Naomi, van der Velden & Convery, Ian & Mansfield, Lois & Holt, Claire D.S., 2022. "Why understanding stakeholder perspectives and emotions is important in upland woodland creation – A case study from Cumbria, UK," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    5. Richardson, Cara & Robb, Kathryn A. & O'Connor, Rory C., 2021. "A systematic review of suicidal behaviour in men: A narrative synthesis of risk factors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    6. Abdou, Rawayda & Cassells, Damien & Berrill, Jenny & Hanly, Jim, 2020. "An empirical investigation of the relationship between business performance and suicide in the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    7. Komppula, Raija, 2014. "The role of individual entrepreneurs in the development of competitiveness for a rural tourism destination – A case study," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 361-371.
    8. Anna Romiti & Mario Vecchio & Chiara Milani & Gino Sartor, 2023. "Italian healthcare organizations facing new dimensions: changes in governance structure," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 27(3), pages 893-921, September.
    9. Wen, Qiang & Zhang, Teng, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and industrial pollution: The role of environmental supervision by local governments," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    10. Saint Ville, Arlette S. & Hickey, Gordon M. & Phillip, Leroy E., 2017. "How do stakeholder interactions influence national food security policy in the Caribbean? The case of Saint Lucia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 53-64.
    11. Martha A Abshire & Marie T Nolan & Sydney M Dy & Joseph J Gallo, 2020. "What matters when doctors die: A qualitative study of family perspectives," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-12, June.
    12. Kranke, Derrick & Floersch, Jerry & Townsend, Lisa & Munson, Michelle, 2010. "Stigma experience among adolescents taking psychiatric medication," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 496-505, April.
    13. Zhongzhong Fu & Han Yan & Zhongnan Fu, 2024. "Negotiation within legitimate political boundaries: revealing the bottom-up news filtering of Chinese Party newspapers," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    14. Ejiogu, Amanze & Ambituuni, Ambisisi & Ejiogu, Chibuzo, 2021. "Accounting for accounting’s role in the neoliberalization processes of social housing in England: A Bourdieusian perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    15. Antony S. Cheng & Lisa Dale, 2020. "Achieving Adaptive Governance of Forest Wildfire Risk Using Competitive Grants: Insights From the Colorado Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant Program," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 37(5), pages 657-686, September.
    16. Tineke Schoot & Ireen Proot & Marja Legius & Ruud ter Meulen & Luc de Witte, 2006. "Client-Centered Home Care," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 15(4), pages 231-254, November.
    17. María Gloria Villarejo-Rodríguez & Beatriz Rodríguez-Martín, 2019. "A Qualitative Study of Parents’ Conceptualizations on Fever in Children Aged 0 to 12 Years," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-11, August.
    18. Singh, Pratibha & Sharma, Mahak & Daim, Tugrul, 2024. "Envisaging AR travel revolution for visiting heritage sites: A mixed-method approach," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    19. Martínez Álvarez, Melisa & Borghi, Josephine & Acharya, Arnab & Vassall, Anna, 2016. "Is Development Assistance for Health fungible? Findings from a mixed methods case study in Tanzania," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 161-169.
    20. Claire L O’Reilly & Diane Paul & Rebecca McCahon & Sumitra Shankar & Alan Rosen & Thomas Ramzy, 2019. "Stigma and discrimination in individuals with severe and persistent mental illness in an assertive community treatment team: Perceptions of families and healthcare professionals," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 65(7-8), pages 570-579, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:260:y:2020:i:c:s027795362030397x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.