Personal and psychiatric characteristics among Druze soldiers attempting suicide during military service

•suicide attempt among Druze soldiers was significantly higher in comparison with Jewish soldiers.•average and high socioeconomic levels, strong Hebrew language skills, and high intelligence levels were protective factors against attempted suicide.•Druze soldier's difficulty in expressing distress is attributable to a language gap as well as to their being from a distinctive social and cultural background.•Druze soldiers having a low diagnosis of psychiatric diagnosis.•By the time a psychological disorder is diagnosed for a Druze soldier, the identified disturbance is more severe, thus making it more likely that it will lead to a suicide attem. A non-fatal suicide attempt is a strong predictor of suicide. This study aimed to examine personal characteristics and psychiatric diagnoses among Druze soldiers who attempted suicide during their military service. The research group (n = 180) included all Druze soldiers who had attempted suicide between the years 2008–2012 (This number encompassed 18.4% of all suicide attempts in the IDF during those years). Three control groups were examined: Jewish soldiers who had attempted suicide (n = 155), and two additional groups comprising Druze and Jewish combat soldiers who had not attempted suicide (n = 5,255 and n = 205,819, respectively). While Druze soldiers were diagnosed with psychiatric conditions less frequently than their Jewish counterparts, the more prolonged time to diagnosis among Druze may account for increased severity at time of diagnosis, thus increasing the risk of suicide attempt. A multivariate analysis revealed that the odds of a suicide attempt among Druze soldiers were much higher than among Jewish soldiers (OR 20.53; p < .001). In addition, it was found that average and high socioeconomic levels, strong Hebrew language skills, and high intelligence levels were protective factors against attempted suicide (p < .001, R2 = 0.217). The three control groups were samples, while the research group (Druze attempters) consisted of all instances of attempted suicide during the study period. Comparing only samples would have offered less statistical power; therefore, using all the records in the research group improved accuracy.