The Relationship between Attachment Styles and Suicidal Thoughts among Soldiers

In regard to the significance of the relationship between mother and child, what is essential for children's mental health is to experience a warm, intimate, and continuing relationship with mother or her permanent substitute. Many forms of neuroticism and personality disorders are the result of depriving children from maternal care or instability of child’s relationship with the attachment figure. The current study aims to investigate the relationship between attachment styles and suicidal thoughts among soldiers in a military organization and determine its predictive role in this field.
This is a correlational descriptive study conducted on 361 soldiers in Mashhad, Iran in 2015 using the multi-stage cluster sampling method. The data collection instruments of this study were the Beck Suicide Scale Ideation and the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (Collins & Read, 1990). The data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis.
The results reveal a significant positive relationship between ambivalent attachment style and suicidal thoughts and a significant negative relationship between secure and avoidance attachment styles and suicidal thoughts.
Given the results of the current study, secure attachment style and avoidance attachment style could significantly predict suicidal thoughts. In addition, the findings of this study confirmed the role of secure attachment style in reducing suicidal thoughts.