• Andrew S London and Kevin M Antshel.
• Department of Sociology and Aging Studies Institute, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA.
• Mil Med. 2024 Dec 17.

IntroductionThis study aims to examine whether having a sibling and/or a parent on active duty in the military is associated with suicidality-think about death, better off dead, think about suicide, plan suicide, and attempt suicide-among 12- to 17-year-old adolescent girls and boys in the United States.Materials And MethodsDescriptive and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted using pooled cross-sectional public-use data from the 2016-2019 National Survey of Drug Use and Health. Analyses were weighted and standard errors were adjusted for the complex sampling design.ResultsHaving a sibling on active duty increases the likelihood of reporting all five suicidality outcomes. Having a parent on active duty increases the likelihood of each of the suicidality outcomes except think about death for both adolescent boys and girls relative to adolescents without a parent in the military. Adolescent girls who have a parent serving in the military are more likely to report suicidal ideation (better off dead, think about suicide) than adolescent boys who have a parent currently serving in the military but are equally likely to report suicide planning and attempt.ConclusionsThose working clinically with military families should be mindful of the association between suicidality and sibling military service, as well as parental military service. Programs aiming to reduce the negative impact of sibling deployment need to be developed and tested empirically. The current findings suggest the need for targeted family-centered approaches to suicide prevention among youth with siblings, parents, and potentially other relatives currently serving in the armed forces.© The Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2024. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site–for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.

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