Human Psychological Issues in the Recruitment of Suicide Bombers

Swedish Scientists did a study and found that young men with low intelligence scores were more likely to commit suicide.

“Researchers from Sweden's Karolinska Institute analyzed test scores for 987,308 armed forced recruits and then cross-referenced the data with those who subsequently committed suicide over 26 years - a total of almost 3,000. They found that those with the lowest scores were three times more likely to take their own lives. Institute associate professor, Finn Rasmussen, reported in the British Medical Journal: "There is a strong inverse association between intelligence test scores and suicide. Better performance on the tests was associated with a reduced risk of suicide." So… “The scientists speculate that poor test scores could be associated with depression and schizophrenia - two conditions which contribute to suicide. They further offer: "It is also possible that people with low intelligence are less able to deal with their problems and may consider suicide as a solution."

Now then armed with this information how can we prevent young men from joining suicide squads? Educate them? Give them something to live for? Use TV or virtual learning, things such as the discovery channel as we have in the United States? Why not? Al-Jazeera satellite television station is awfully effective on smearing America and her efforts. Why not use TV the other way, make small bite size history, math, language, geography, lessons on TV, helping them learn and helping them develop a desire to travel, understand and dream?

Before this particular study there have been only a few relevant studies on the subject, however there have been a few which indicated similar outcomes….

“Few previous studies have assessed the association of measures of intelligence with suicide. The 1946 British birth cohort study found that suicide was associated with delayed physical development but not with age at first speech, alertness (age 7 years), or measures of intelligence at age 15 years. There were only 11 suicides in that study and so it lacked power to detect potentially important effects. A study of 43 suicides in Israeli conscripts aged 18-21 years suggested that they were of above average intelligence,4 although patterns of suicide in the context of military service may differ from those in the general population. A study of university students in the United States, however, also found an increased risk of suicide among the offspring of better educated or professional parents. Suicide rates among Australian army conscripts were strongly associated with a measure of general intelligence, even after adjustment for several other risk markers, but this study was based on only 76 suicides. In a previous study of Swedish conscripts, associations with suicide were attenuated after adjustment for measures of conduct and personality. Several studies have examined the association of childhood IQ with overall mortality. In two Scottish studies low IQ at age 10-11 years and poor mental ability at age 11 years were strongly associated with all cause mortality.”

These studies in fact seem to make sense and so we need to work on ways to increase intelligence, thru early schooling, nutrition and in the home parenting. This will come soon enough. But we have TV sets now and if we were to set up their televisions with educational stations, we might find fewer young men joining suicide terrorist groups. Further I propose healthy bodies to go with those new healthy minds. I propose setting up soccer fields throughout Iraq with floodlights for use at night too. Keep the energy on the field and give them something to work for, teaching them a different kind of group teamwork, one that builds strength of character and camaraderie in a positive way. Help them develop in to strong young men with dreams and passion, intelligence and perseverance and you will find no more suicide bombers in that land. No that is a new vision for the youth of Iraq. Onward and Upward for all the right reasons.

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