Self-Awareness as a Measure of Exteroception and Its Relationship to Suicide and Military Performance

As the Army continues to modernize in the domains of technology, strategy, and training, there remains a need for research that intersects across research fields to promote the identification of transdiagnostic mechanisms that impact both psychological health and performance by designing more efficient and effective interventions. Bodily awareness (i.e., interoception and exteroception) has significant implications in military contexts, whereby both psychological health (e.g., suicide) and physical performance are key components to training, readiness, and wellbeing. However, although promising research exists focused on the etiological impacts of interoception on suicide, no work has directly examined exteroception-awareness of the body with respect to space and movement-within a military sample.

The current study aimed to address this gap by examining the impact of bodily awareness on measures of suicide and military performance.

A total of 1462 ADSM completed surveys assessing exteroception, suicidal ideation, readiness, and specific job related performance indicators.

Awareness of one's body in space (i.e., exteroception) was associated with suicidal ideation, over and above thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness. Notably, exteroception was significantly associated with all measures of military performance.

The results of this study suggest that improving exteroception may be an appropriate transdiagnostic target for interventions designed to improve mental health while simultaneously optimizing performance among ADSM.