Unit cohesion and social support as protective factors against suicide risk and depression among National Guard service members

Introduction: Suicide and depression continue to be pervasive problems across military populations, including within the National Guard. Existing literature highlights the protective effects of social support and unit cohesion for both suicide risk and depression, yet to our knowledge, these associations have never been confirmed in National Guard populations. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of social support resources (i.e., general social support and unit cohesion) on depression and suicide risk among a large sample (n = 877) of National Guard service members.

Methods: Multilevel modeling was used to examine the impact of social support resources on depression and suicide ideation at both the individual and unit level.

Results: Results indicated that higher levels of perceived social support were associated with lower levels of depression and suicide ideation at both the individual and unit levels. Additionally, higher levels of perceived unit cohesion significantly predicted lower levels of depression and suicide ideation at the individual, but not unit level.

Discussion: Limitations include self-report measurement and cross-sectional nature of the data. These findings hold implications for improvement of operational climate within military units and reduction of suicide risk and depressive symptoms among National Guard service members.