An examination of PTSD symptoms and their effects on suicidal ideation and behavior in non-treatment seeking veterans.

•The effect of PTSD symptoms on suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior in veterans who are not currently seeking mental health treatment was examined.•A bifactor solution comprising a general PTSD factor and specific symptom clusters out performed a correlated factors solution.•General PTSD alone predicted suicidal ideation one month later while general PTSD and re-experiencing symptoms both predicted suicidal behavior one month later.