A demographic analysis of suicide among US navy personnel

Age-, sex-, race-, and employment-adjusted standardized mortality ratios (S MRs) were calculated for sailors committing suicide between 1990 and 1996 a nd compared with adjusted SMRs for civilians. Cluster analyses were conduct ed on annual rates from 1983 through 1995 to examine differences between co mparison groups across time and location. Results showed fewer than expecte d suicides for Caucasian and African American males and a somewhat higher t han expected suicide rate among other ethnic group males and among Caucasia n women. The suicide rate showed an increase during the study period, with some evidence toward a clustering effect in time and space.