{"id":55506,"date":"2019-12-13T16:00:58","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T16:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/12\/13\/historic-data-on-military-suicide-shows-no-clear-link-with-combat-operations\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:39:13","slug":"historic-data-on-military-suicide-shows-no-clear-link-with-combat-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/12\/13\/historic-data-on-military-suicide-shows-no-clear-link-with-combat-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic data on military suicide shows no clear link with combat operations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Contrary to public assumptions, increased combat operations do not lead to more military suicides<\/a> and may actually result in fewer troops engaging in self-harm, according to a new analysis of historic Defense Department data released Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study authors say their findings provide both a reminder that the motivations behind suicide aren\u2019t singular, simple factors, and an alert to other researchers that more data on the problem is available than they may know about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study tracks Army suicide data<\/a> from the 1840s to today. Dr. Christopher Frueh, a professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii and one of the study\u2019s authors, said researchers spent the last four years combing through Army medical records to find the information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore we started, we didn\u2019t know if the data would be there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t