Florida State University, Department of Psychology, 1107 West Call St., Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States.
Florida State University, Department of Psychology, 1107 West Call St., Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States.
J Affect Disord. 2020 Jun 15;271:59-65. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.03.092. Epub 2020 Apr 10.
Suicide rates are elevated among United States (U.S.) military service members. Research has found that service members with autism spectrum disorder-related (ASD-related) traits are at increased risk for suicide. Complementary lines of inquiry have suggested that unit cohesion is a protective factor against developing suicidal ideation in military service members. However, given the social difficulties inherent in ASD, it is unclear whether unit cohesion might protect against suicide risk in this population.
Our sample consisted of 285 active duty U.S. military service members recruited online. We examined the interaction between ASD-related traits (as measured by the Autism Spectrum Quotient [AQ]), unit cohesion, and suicide risk (as measured by the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised [SBQ-R]). We also conducted exploratory analyses to examine whether unit cohesion attenuates the association between ASD-related traits and suicidal intent.
Elevated ASD-related traits were independently associated with higher levels of global suicide risk; however, unit cohesion was not independently associated with suicide risk. Unit cohesion did not significantly interact with ASD-related traits to predict suicide risk. Finally, we found that elevated ASD-related traits and unit cohesion have an independent effect on current suicidal intent.
Our findings suggest that unit cohesion might not buffer the effect of ASD-related traits on suicide risk. However, our results do show that greater unit cohesion may be independently associated with decreased suicidal intent. This study is limited by a cross-sectional design and use of self-report measures.
美国（U.S.）军人的自杀率偏高。研究发现，具有自闭症谱系障碍相关（ASD-related）特征的军人自杀风险更高。其他研究表明，部队凝聚力是防止军人出现自杀意念的保护因素。然而，鉴于 ASD 所固有的社交困难，尚不清楚部队凝聚力是否可以保护该人群免受自杀风险的影响。
我们的样本由 285 名现役美国军人组成，他们是通过网络招募的。我们研究了自闭症谱系障碍相关特征（通过自闭症谱系商数[AQ]衡量）、部队凝聚力与自杀风险（通过修订后的自杀行为问卷[SBQ-R]衡量）之间的相互作用。我们还进行了探索性分析，以检验部队凝聚力是否会减弱自闭症谱系障碍相关特征与自杀意图之间的关联。
自闭症谱系障碍相关特征升高与自杀风险的总体水平升高独立相关；然而，部队凝聚力与自杀风险没有独立相关。自闭症谱系障碍相关特征与部队凝聚力之间没有显著的相互作用来预测自杀风险。最后，我们发现自闭症谱系障碍相关特征和部队凝聚力的升高对当前自杀意图有独立的影响。
我们的研究结果表明，部队凝聚力可能无法缓冲自闭症谱系障碍相关特征对自杀风险的影响。然而，我们的结果确实表明，更大的部队凝聚力可能与自杀意图的降低独立相关。本研究受到横断面设计和使用自我报告措施的限制。
