ABSTRACT

Even though suicide theories highlight the importance of interpersonal connection, little is known about how romantic relationships impact suicide risk among military personal seeking treatment for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Data were drawn from active-duty U.S. Soldier participants with suicidal ideation engaged in a suicide-focused treatment – the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS). This exploratory study used a mixed-methods approach to examine two aims: (a) frequencies in which romantic relationships were endorsed in the context of the initial the Suicide Status Form (SSF; the multipurpose clinical tool used in CAMS) and (b) if having endorsed romantic relationships were implicated in their suicidal thoughts and self-inflicted injuries regardless of intent (i.e., non-suicidal self-injury and suicide attempts). We found that 76% of participants mentioned a romantic partner in at least one qualitative assessment item on the SSF. More specifically, 22.6% identified their romantic relationship as a reason for living or a reason for dying, and half of those participants indicated that their romantic relationship was both a reason for living and dying. Soldier participants who identified a current romantic relationship problem, were significantly more likely to have made a self-inflicted injury regardless of intent in their lifetime. Overall, suicidal thoughts and behaviors are intertwined with romantic relationship dynamics, and suicide-focused interventions may benefit from directly addressing these relationship issues with active-duty Soldiers.

摘要

尽管自杀理论强调了人际关系的重要性，但人们对浪漫关系如何影响寻求治疗自杀想法和行为的军人的自杀风险知之甚少。数据来自有自杀意念的现役美国士兵参与以自杀为重点的治疗——自杀性协作评估和管理 (CAMS)。这项探索性研究使用混合方法来检查两个目标：（a）在初始自杀状态表（SSF；CAMS 中使用的多用途临床工具）的背景下，浪漫关系得到认可的频率和（b）如果无论意图如何（即非自杀性自伤和自杀企图），都与他们的自杀念头和自我伤害有关。我们发现 76% 的参与者在 SSF 的至少一项定性评估项目中提到了浪漫伴侣。更具体地说，22.6%的人认为他们的恋爱关系是生的原因或死的原因，其中一半的参与者表示他们的恋爱关系既是生的原因，也是死的原因。发现当前恋爱关系问题的士兵参与者，无论其一生中的意图如何，都更有可能造成自己的伤害。总体而言，自杀念头和行为与浪漫关系动态交织在一起，以自杀为重点的干预措施可能受益于直接与现役士兵解决这些关系问题。