Race and Its Influence on Suicide
To commit suicide is to make the decision to take one’s own life. Nearly 30,000 Americans make this decision each year (Rockett, Wang, Stack, De Leo, Frost, Ducatman & Kaputsa, 2010). Like several other issues in the United States, there is a gap in suicide rates. There are numerous factors that are thought to be correlated with suicide rates. Examples of things that could influence the decision to commit suicide include age, race, ethnicity, income, education, and socioeconomic background (Rockett et al., 2010). This literature review primarily explores the subject of race and its influence over suicide rates. It is hypothesized that White Americans will exhibit higher levels of suicide ideation and attempts …show more content…
The results also revealed that the number of deaths from undetermined injury were much higher in African Americans than in any other group, allowing researchers to conclude that African Americans were much more prone to suicide misclassification (Rockett et al.,2010) . The results of this study supported the hypothesis of the researchers, yet there were several limitations that could have affected the findings. One limitation was that the only cause-of-death category used for suicide misclassification was undetermined injury. While this category may have provided the closest link to suicide misclassification, there are several other causes of death that could have been considered. Another limitation was that the researchers did not consider the type of environment that each decedent lived in, which could have a great influence on the decision to commit …show more content…
Researchers were surprised to find that anxiety, not MDD, and young age were risk factors for Whites, and the only variable associated with suicidality in African Americans was lack of social support. Researchers were not as surprised about the results for African Americans because the family and social network have played a vital role in their survival, now and in history. Unlike in many other studies, socioeconomic background was not a confounder and the African Americans used in this study did not differ in income, psychiatric disorders, or suicide attempts from Whites. Limitations of the study included the fact that this study could only examine risk factors for suicidality rather than completed suicide, the study was not longitudinal, and the sample size was relatively small. This study is in alignment with the previous because it not only stated that Whites had higher suicide rates, but it also showed that there were more risk factors for Whites than for African
To commit suicide is to make the decision to take one’s own life. Nearly 30,000 Americans make this decision each year (Rockett, Wang, Stack, De Leo, Frost, Ducatman & Kaputsa, 2010). Like several other issues in the United States, there is a gap in suicide rates. There are numerous factors that are thought to be correlated with suicide rates. Examples of things that could influence the decision to commit suicide include age, race, ethnicity, income, education, and socioeconomic background (Rockett et al., 2010). This literature review primarily explores the subject of race and its influence over suicide rates. It is hypothesized that White Americans will exhibit higher levels of suicide ideation and attempts …show more content…
The results also revealed that the number of deaths from undetermined injury were much higher in African Americans than in any other group, allowing researchers to conclude that African Americans were much more prone to suicide misclassification (Rockett et al.,2010) . The results of this study supported the hypothesis of the researchers, yet there were several limitations that could have affected the findings. One limitation was that the only cause-of-death category used for suicide misclassification was undetermined injury. While this category may have provided the closest link to suicide misclassification, there are several other causes of death that could have been considered. Another limitation was that the researchers did not consider the type of environment that each decedent lived in, which could have a great influence on the decision to commit …show more content…
Researchers were surprised to find that anxiety, not MDD, and young age were risk factors for Whites, and the only variable associated with suicidality in African Americans was lack of social support. Researchers were not as surprised about the results for African Americans because the family and social network have played a vital role in their survival, now and in history. Unlike in many other studies, socioeconomic background was not a confounder and the African Americans used in this study did not differ in income, psychiatric disorders, or suicide attempts from Whites. Limitations of the study included the fact that this study could only examine risk factors for suicidality rather than completed suicide, the study was not longitudinal, and the sample size was relatively small. This study is in alignment with the previous because it not only stated that Whites had higher suicide rates, but it also showed that there were more risk factors for Whites than for African