Investigating the reliability of suicide attempt history reporting across five measures: A study of US military service members at risk of suicide.

OBJECTIVE

Utilizing a sample of military service members at risk of suicide, this study aimed to: (a) identify patterns of suicide attempt (SA) history reporting across five measures and (b) evaluate whether consistent SA reporters (i.e., individuals who consistently report an SA history across measures) differ from inconsistent SA reporters on other clinical severity indices.

METHOD

Participants (N = 984) completed five validated SA history measures and self-report psychiatric symptom measures.

RESULTS

Of the sample, 35.4% inconsistently responded to SA history measures. Inconsistent reporters disclosed more severe suicide threat histories than consistent reporters. On all other clinical severity indices, inconsistent reporters evinced either less severe or comparable symptom levels.

CONCLUSIONS

A nontrivial portion of service members may respond inconsistently to different assessments of SA history. Research is needed to identify factors that account for inconsistent SA history reporting and to improve the accuracy of SA history assessments among military personnel.