Risk Factors Associated with Suicidal Ideation and Suicidal Behavior in Wildland Firefighters

Abstract

Introduction

Wildland firefighters are posited to have a higher suicide rate than general firefighters and the general population. However, the rates and risk factors of suicide among wildland firefighters is not fully understood.

Methods

For this preregistered study, 564 participants were recruited from Facebook to obtain a final sample of 246 participants with valid data who were current or former wildland firefighters in the United States. Participants completed online measures of suicidal ideation, history of suicidal behaviors, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, problematic alcohol use, and occupational exposure to suicide.

Results

In this sample, 22% of wildland firefighters reported a history of at least one suicide attempt, and 36.7% reported current suicidal ideation. PTSD symptoms, but not problematic alcohol use or exposure to suicide, were positively associated with suicidal ideation and a history of suicide attempts. Additionally, PTSD symptoms explained significantly more variance in suicidal ideation than depression symptoms alone.

Conclusions

Wildland firefighters demonstrate rates of suicide attempts that exceed those of non-wildland firefighters and of the general population at large. In addition, PTSD symptoms may contribute to suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) in this population. This is the largest study of STB in wildland firefighters to date.

Keywords:

• Alcohol use
• first responder
• posttraumatic stress
• suicidal ideation
• suicide attempts
• suicide exposure
• wildland firefighter

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author thanks the International Association of Wildland Fire, the Intertribal Timber Council, and members of the US Forest Service for providing important background on the wildland firefighting profession. I also thank Tony T. Wells at Oklahoma State University for his contributions to this project and his feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Logan M. Smith

Logan M. Smith, Oklahoma State University, OK, USA.