DOI

https://doi.org/10.25772/7D70-RP48

Defense Date

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Dr. Susan Bodnar-Deren

Second Advisor

Dr. Victor Chen

Third Advisor

Dr. Maureen Mathews

Abstract

Suicide is an important issue of public health, with Veteran suicide being a somewhat unique sub-populous at high risk. This research aims to explore the factors involved in Veteran suicidality that may raise or lower one’s risk. This analysis was conducted with the National Survey for Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) 2020 (N=1173) dataset through use of Binary Logistic Regression (BLR). The analysis showed that having a Major Depressive Episode (MDE) in the past year was the greatest predictor of increased suicidality, while marriage was the strongest buffer by decreasing the likelihood of suicidality increasing. Being a War on Terror Veteran (2001 or later) was shown to be a strong predictor of increased suicidality even after controlling for other significant factors, showing that Veterans from this category were just over twice as likely to express suicidality in the past year when compared to their pre-War on Terror Veteran counterparts. Additional predictors that bordered the line of significance were educational attainment (as a buffer), sexuality (as a predictor), and substance abuse disorders (as a predictor).

Rights

© Philip A. Weisbrod 2022 All Rights Reserved

Is Part Of

VCU University Archives

Is Part Of

VCU Theses and Dissertations

Date of Submission

5-11-2022

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