To Support and Defend: A Eusociality-Based Account of Suicide in U.S. Military Service Members and First Responders

Humans are eusocial, a term used to describe "colony life" systems in highly social species. Eusocial features include specialized defense and cooperative care of the young, self-sacrificial characteristics that aid in the survival of the extended community. A eusociality-based perspective on suicide views suicide as a dysfunction of the self-sacrificial aspect of eusociality. We consider a eusociality-based conceptualization of suicide in military personnel and first responders, groups that may be characterized as eusocial defenders. Military personnel, veterans, and first responders display unique factors that may be associated with increased suicide risk and exhibit consistent behavioral, environmental, and temperamental traits. We conceptualize these traits considering a eusociality-based view and draw out implications for suicide prevention among military and first responder populations. Public Health Significance StatementSuicidal behavior in humans may be conceptualized as a dysfunction of the self-sacrificial aspect of human eusociality, or "colony life". Military personnel and first responders demonstrate heightened risk for suicide due to an interaction of various risk factors that may be considered in the context of the eusociality-based perspective of suicide. Application of a eusociality-focused view of suicide to these populations may lead to advances in suicide risk identification through further elucidation of relevant biobehavioral characteristics.