TABLE 1—
Demographic Characteristics and Suicidality Among Veterans, by Sexual Minority Status: California Quality of Life Surveys, 2008–2009 and 2012–2013
| Sexual Minority Veterans (n = 129) |
Heterosexual Veterans (n = 315) |
||||
| Variable | No. (%) or Mean | SE | No. (%) or Mean | SE | P |
| Demographicsa | |||||
| Age, y | 53.1 | 2.7 | 52.0 | 1.0 | .881 |
| Gender | |||||
| Male | 108 (78.4) | 7.6 | 282 (89.6) | 2.2 | .307 |
| Female (Ref) | 21 (21.5) | 33 (10.4) | |||
| Race/ethnicity | |||||
| Non-Hispanic White | 104 (71.4) | 7.9 | 188 (65.9) | 3.3 | .43 |
| Racial/ethnic minority (Ref) | 25 (28.6) | 127 (34.1) | |||
| Relationship status | |||||
| Partnered | 39 (52.2)* | 7.7 | 235 (76.8) | 2.9 | .003 |
| Single (Ref) | 90 (47.8) | 80 (23.2) | |||
| Education | |||||
| < college | 51 (44.8) | 7.9 | 191 (59.3) | 3.4 | .162 |
| ≥ college degree (Ref) | 78 (55.2) | 124 (40.7) | |||
| Employment status | |||||
| Unemployed | 6 (1.8) | 0.8 | 15 (5.6) | 1.8 | .07 |
| Out of workforce | 63 (37.9) | 7.2 | 106 (28.7) | 2.9 | .326 |
| Employed (Ref) | 60 (60.3) | 7.3 | 194 (65.7) | 3.2 | |
| Below 300% FPL | 37 (26.5) | 3.3 | 93 (30.8) | 6.6 | .338 |
| Service in combat zone | 25 (18.6)* | 7.2 | 120 (37.6) | 3.3 | .041 |
| Suicidalityb | |||||
| Lifetime suicidal ideation | 52 (47.0)* | 7.9 | 72 (22.1) | 2.8 | .007 |
| Lifetime suicide attempt | 21 (22.6) | 7.7 | 26 (7.6) | 1.7 | .082 |
| Past 12 mo suicidal ideation | 8 (4.2) | 1.8 | 22 (7.4) | 1.8 | .224 |
Note. FPL = federal poverty level (according to The US Department of Health and Human Services). All analyses are weighted; frequencies are unweighted and percentages and SEs are weighted.
a
Single logistic regression adjusted for survey year and testing association of demographic characteristics with sexual minority status.
b
χ-2 test (sexual minority vs heterosexual).
*P < .05.