As of 2021, Suicide remains a leading cause of death among U.S. service members, with 30,177 post-9/11 active-duty personnel and veterans dying by suicide. This number is more than four times the number killed in combat (Suitt, 2021). In response to this alarming trend, the Department of Defense established the Suicide Event Report (DoDSER) system and launched targeted prevention efforts, including the Task Force on the Prevention of Suicide in 2008 (SPRIRC, 2022). Despite these efforts, military suicide rates remain high, particularly among firearm-owning service members, which is a group that account for approximately 66% of all military suicides (Department of Defense, 2023). The prevalence of suicide risk among different income levels within firearm-owning service members remains largely unexplored. My independent project under the NJ Gun Violence Research Center will address that gap by examining the relationship between income level and suicidal ideation. Understanding which firearm-owning service members are most at risk for suicidal thoughts is key to developing targeted interventions, like promoting secure firearm storage. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional design and logistic regression analysis, this study examines whether income level is associated with suicidal ideation among a high-risk population of firearm-owning service members.
