Suicidal ideation across race in a justice‐involved sample: An item response theory approach

Abstract

Objectives Compared to community samples, rates of suicide are much higher in forensic and correctional settings, yet limited research has focused on the development and improvement of suicide assessment methods used in such contexts. Moreover, despite evidence that suicide assessment varies across Caucasians and African Americans, to our knowledge this important issue has received little attention within higher risk correctional samples. We used Item Response Theory and Differential Item Functioning analyses to address this gap within the literature. Method Specifically, we examined the psychometric properties of the Suicidal Ideation scale of the Personality Assessment Inventory (Morey, 2007) in a large sample of justice‐involved individuals. Results Caucasians report greater suicidal ideation compared to African American participants on average. However, after controlling for mean differences, Caucasians and African Americans differentially endorsed symptoms of suicidal ideation. If the level of suicidal ideation is held constant across racial categories, Caucasians underreported suicidal ideation relative to African Americans. Conclusion Results suggest a nuanced picture of suicidal ideation across racial categories that can be informed by Item Response Theory approaches to scale construction and refinement.

Understanding the association between mental health knowledge and mental health service utilization among Black adults

“…across the independent variables of mental health knowledge but this was not consistently seen in our findings. There are low rates of mental health service use among Black adults (8,9,35), and some studies show lower likelihood to report suicidality to mental health providers due to medical mistrust among Black people (48)(49)(50). Therefore, based on our findings, building specific knowledge around mental health conditions, the specific conditions and spectrum of illnesses and the need for mental health service intervention for suicidality is critical among Black adults.…”