A new report on the prevalence of suicides among females with military service is causing quite a buzz. It said younger women are three times more likely to kill themselves than their civilian counterparts, according to Oregon researchers.
The alarmingly high number of suicides among male veterans is well known, but until the study by Portland State University and Oregon Health and Science University, the cases among their female counterparts were not.
The research effort titled "Self-Inflicted Deaths Among Women With U.S. Military Service: A Hidden Epidemic?" is billed as the largest study yet on suicides among female veterans.
It saw publication last week in the December issue of the American Psychiatric Association's journal Psychiatric Services and is based on information collected from 16 states. California, home to the largest veteran population in the country, was not among them.
The study of 5,948 female suicides between 2004 and 2007 found women veterans aged 18 to 34 most at risk:
-- 56 suicides among 418,132 female veterans (1 in 7,465)
-- 1,461 suicides among 33,257,362 nonveterans (1 in 22,763).
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