{"id":1648806,"date":"2022-09-20T09:29:33","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T13:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1648806"},"modified":"2022-09-20T09:30:29","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T13:30:29","slug":"study-u-s-veteran-suicide-rate-2-4-times-higher-than-government-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/study-u-s-veteran-suicide-rate-2-4-times-higher-than-government-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"Study: U.S. Veteran Suicide Rate 2.4 Times Higher Than Government Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fstudy-u-s-veteran-suicide-rate-2-4-times-higher-than-government-reports%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1648806&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Suicide rates among America\u2019s military veterans are more than double that reported by the government\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-department-of-veterans-affairs\">Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a> (VA), according to a new study published on Sept. 17 by\u00a0America\u2019s Warrior Partnership (AWP).<\/p>\n<p>AWP is a national nonprofit that aims to\u00a0partner with communities to prevent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-veteran\">veteran<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-suicide\">suicide<\/a>, according to its official website.<\/p>\n<p>The nonprofit partnered with\u00a0the University of Alabama and Duke University to gather state-provided death data while simultaneously coordinating with the Department of Defense (DoD) to establish military affiliation, and \u201cidentify commonalities of the person, military service, and their death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The study (<a href=\"https:\/\/e55c5558-502f-457d-8a07-a49806f5ff14.usrfiles.com\/ugd\/e55c55_3e4c6bae16a945bbb8dbfa36739af2df.pdf\">pdf<\/a>) is titled \u201cOperation Deep Dive\u201d (OpDD) and is described by AWP as a \u201cformer service member suicide and self-injury mortality study encompassing eight states and five years of death data corroborated by the DoD.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>States listed in the study are Alabama, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, and Oregon. The DoD data focused on both male and female\u00a0former service members aged between 18 and 64.<\/p>\n<p>The five-year period runs from 2014 to 2018.<\/p>\n<p>AWP found that\u00a0the suicide rate among veterans over the five-year period was\u00a01.37 times more than the rate officially reported by VA.<\/p>\n<p>If the eight states and age adjustment represented a national rate, there would be an average of\u00a024 former service members (FSMs) dying each day by officially declared suicides, compared to the VA\u2019s 2014\u20132018 average of 17.7 veteran suicides per day.<\/p>\n<p>AWP also found that VA has not been accounting for Self-Injury Mortality (SIM), which it said is attributed predominately to overdose deaths.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4125122\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/11\/26\/Biden_21329619491428-1200x800.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4125122\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/11\/26\/Biden_21329619491428-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"Joe Biden\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> President Joe Biden hands out a challenge coin as he speaks with members of the Coast Guard at the United States Coast Guard Station Brant Point in Nantucket, Mass., on Nov. 25, 2021. (Carolyn Kaster\/AP Photo)<\/figure>\n<h2>Suicide Rates Are Significantly Higher<\/h2>\n<p>VA typically categorizes deaths caused by self-injury as accidental or undetermined, but when\u00a0accounting for deaths that are correlated with self-harming behaviors, the report said that 20\u00a0FSMs\u00a0die per day by SIM and that over 80 percent are \u201ccoded as overdose deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If the eight states listed in the study collectively represented the national rate, the combined death rate would be at least 44 FSMs per day which is 2.4 times higher than the VA suicide rate, the study said.<\/p>\n<p>The study authors said the difference in suicide figures reported by the government was likely owing to \u201cundercounting of FSMs deaths and the greater specificity of the decedent\u2019s demographics, military experience, and death details available to OpDD.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It added that\u00a0Self-Injury Mortality needs to be included in any\u00a0analysis of FSM and veteran death, while a string of improvements are needed when it comes to death reporting across\u00a0local, state, and national levels.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, the study also noted that individuals who served in the\u00a0military for less than three years were at the greatest risk for suicide, while those who received a\u00a0demotion during military service were 56 percent more likely to take their own lives.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the study noted that former\u00a0Coast Guard service members were the most likely to die from suicide,\u00a0followed by Marine Corps, Army, Navy, and Air Force.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cData indicate that FSMs are at a higher risk of dying from suicide\/SIM (self-injury mortality) or natural causes such as heart disease or cancer before age 64 than those who never served in the military,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4445199\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/05\/04\/Marines-1200x800-1200x800.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-medium wp-image-4445199\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/05\/04\/Marines-1200x800-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4445199\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/05\/04\/Marines-1200x800-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> U.S. Marines and Sailors with Combat Logistics Regiment 3, 3d Marine Logistics Group, board a U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules at Kadena Air Base, Japan, Dec. 6, 2021. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Hailey D. Clay)<\/figure>\n<h2>Better Data Needed<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cIf we are going to make progress toward preventing former service member suicide, we need better data,\u201d Jim Lorraine, president and CEO of\u00a0AWP, said in a press release. \u201cInaccurate data leads to a misallocation of very valuable resources. Operation Deep Dive is designed to address this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/restoring-america\/community-family\/veterans-group-says-suicide-rates-among-veterans-is-higher-than-what-va-says\">statement<\/a> to the\u00a0Washington Examiner, a\u00a0spokesperson for the Department of Veterans Affairs said\u00a0that its Annual Suicide Prevent Report is \u201cbased on verified data from the CDC and DoD, and meets the quality and standards of a peer-reviewed publication.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe purpose of VA\u2019s National Suicide Prevention report is to count every Veteran suicide so we can prevent every Veteran suicide. Ending Veteran suicide and saving lives is our top clinical priority at VA, and we take every step possible to make sure that our Veteran suicide data is accurate\u2014because the first step to solving this problem is understanding it,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cOur methodology for creating this report is well-established and consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Epoch Times has contacted\u00a0the Department of Veterans Affairs for comment.<\/p>\n<p><em>If you or someone you know is experiencing a crisis or is considering suicide, has mental health issues, or engaging in substance abuse, dial or text the U.S. Suicide &#038; Crisis Lifeline at 988 to speak with a counselor. If you\u2019re in the UK, call the Samaritans at 116123.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-katabella-roberts\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/ttl7dayERL_WEB_KatabellaRoberts.jpg\" alt=\"Katabella Roberts\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Katabella Roberts is a news writer for The Epoch Times, focusing primarily on the United States, world, and business news.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Suicide rates among America\u2019s military veterans are more than double that reported by the government\u2019s Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), according to a new study published on Sept. 17 by\u00a0America\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1648811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1648806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1648806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1648811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1648806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1648806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1648806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}