Past Issues

Objectives: In this study, we intended to scrutinize the possible association between the sleep problems of military recruits and their suicidality (deliberate self-harm, suicide ideation, and suicide attempt), as well as to examine the mediation effects of anxiety and depression. Methods: From January 2013 to June 2013, we collected the self-reported psychiatric conditions of 1,222 military recruits, aged 18 to 34 years from a military training center in northern Taiwan. Those new military recruits were asked to complete the self-administrated Adult Self-Report Inventory (ASRI-4) during the fi rst two weeks of their military training. With logistic regression model, we analyzed the relationship between their current sleep problems and situations of suicidality, as well as the effects of anxiety and depression. Results: The participant’s general suicidality was signifi cantly associated with interrupted sleep (p < 0.05), and nightmare (p < 0.05). We also found that subjects’ interrupted sleep, nightmare, and sleep attack were signifi cantly dominant for suicide idea (p < 0.001), suicide attempt (p < 0.001), and deliberate selfharm (p < 0.001), respectively. All the signifi cant associations mentioned above remained signifi cant after controlling the effects of anxiety and depression. Conclusion: Some specifi c, but not all, types of sleep problems are essential clues in predicting the risk of suicidality among military recruits. The treatments for underlying depressive and/or anxiety disorders might be the most effective approaches in military suicide prevention.