Trauma exposure in adulthood and suicidal experiences in serving and ex-serving military personnel: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To quantify the strength of the relationship between trauma exposure in adulthood and suicidal experiences in military individuals.

Method: We searched three databases, namely, Medline, APA PsycINFO, and Embase, until the end of April 2022; we updated our searches twice, in October 2022 and in April 2024. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis. We also applied univariate metaregressions whenever applicable.

Results: Overall, we found that military sexual trauma was associated with an up to twofold increased likelihood for engagement in suicidal thoughts and behaviors (ORs ranging between 1.91 and 2.57). Our metaregressions showed that such military sexual trauma increased the likelihood of suicide attempts (b = -0.74, p = .01) in females and active military personnel (b = -1.08, p = .02). Other traumatic events, especially those that occurred prior to joining the military forces, also were associated with an increased likelihood for suicidal ideation and attempts. Exposure to combat scenes was also associated with an increased likelihood for suicidal ideation and attempts.

Conclusions: This is the first study of its kind to identify and quantify traumatic events encountered in adulthood as risk factors for suicidal acts within this vulnerable population. Our findings call for an immediate attention when recruiting military personnel and suggest that all these crucial factors are assessed. We also recommend frequent follow-up assessments and the use of qualitative and mix-method approaches to understand the mechanisms underlying these relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).