Suicide among American Indian Adolescents: An Overview

Berlin, Irving

doi:10.1111/j.1943-278x.1987.tb00269.x

Cited by 68 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Some scholars even suggest that specific American Indian spiritual beliefs and customs may contribute to high rates of suicide (Berlin, 1987;Everett, 1975). For example, LaFromboise and Bigfoot (1988) point out that the view of death as a natural part of life rather than an event to be feared and avoided (a view shared by a number of tribes) may encourage suicide.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spirituality and attempted suicide among American Indians

Garroutte

Goldberg

Beals

et al. 2003

Social Science & Medicine

141

110

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American Indians exhibit suicide-related behaviors at rates much higher than the general population. This study examines the relation of spirituality to the lifetime prevalence of attempted suicide in a probability sample of American Indians. Data were derived from a cross-sectional sample of 1456 American Indian tribal members (age range 15-57 yr) who were living on or near their Northern Plains reservations between 1997 and 1999. Data were collected by personal interviews. Commitment to Christianity was assessed using a measure of beliefs. Commitment to tribal cultural spirituality (or forms of spirituality deriving from traditions that predate European contact) was assessed using separate measures for beliefs and spiritual orientations. Results indicated that neither commitment to Christianity nor to cultural spirituality, as measured by beliefs, was significantly associated with suicide attempts (p trend for Christianity=0.22 and p trend for cultural spirituality=0.85). Conversely, commitment to cultural spirituality, as measured by an index of spiritual orientations, was significantly associated with a reduction in attempted suicide (p trend ¼ 0:01). Those with a high level of cultural spiritual orientation had a reduced prevalence of suicide compared with those with low level of cultural spiritual orientation. (OR=0.5, 95% CI=0.3, 0.9). This result persisted after simultaneous adjustment for age, gender, education, heavy alcohol use, substance abuse and psychological distress. These results are consistent with anecdotal reports suggesting the effectiveness of American Indian suicide-prevention programs emphasizing orientations related to cultural spirituality. r

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spirituality and attempted suicide among American Indians

Garroutte

Goldberg

Beals

et al. 2003

Social Science & Medicine

141

110

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Adolescents who committed suicide typically came from a nontraditional tribe characterized by family chaos, alcoholic parents, high unemployment rates, child neglect and abuse, and a high incidence of alcoholic young mothers and babies with fetal alcohol syndrome. Higher suicide rates were more prevalent among adolescents who had been adopted by non-American Indian families and those who attended American Indian boarding schools (Berlin, 1987). The early loss of important nurturant figures in the family through death, divorce, or desertion, as well as loss of parental involvement because of alcoholism, was emphasized in the research on etiological factors of adolescent suicide (Berlin, 1987).…”

Section: Depression and Suicide In Youthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…LaFromboise and Howard-Pitney (1995) identified depression, hopelessness, alcohol and drug use, and family dysfunction as risk factors for suicide in the American Indian adolescent population. Berlin (1987) examined the differences between tribes in relation to adolescent suicide. A review of the literature indicated that suicide rates do differ between tribes.…”

Section: Depression and Suicide In Youthmentioning

confidence: 99%

American Indians: Presenting concerns and considerations for family therapists

Brucker¹,

Perry²

1998

The American Journal of Family Therapy

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“…Native American and white males ages 15-24 and older white males have among the highest rates, and the methods chosen by males (e.g., gunshot or hanging) are typicallv more lethal than those chosen by females. The suicide rate for Native American youth is generally high, but it varies across communities, with some (e.g., more traditional) communities having low rates (Berlin, 1987). In the United States, males and females kill themselves most often with firearms.…”

Section: Background Risk Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical model for suicide risk assessment

Kral

Sakinofsky

1994

Death Studies

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The assessment of an individual's risk f m suicule is one of the clinician's most challenging tasks. Recent advances in both research and theory on suicide offer s m guidelines to those who work with suicidal patients, including viewing risk assessment us an ongoing feature of treatment. Assessment i s presented in a two-tiered model comprising backgroundlcmtextual factors and subjectivity. The clinical assessment of subjectivity is fmulated around Shneidmn's (1985) concepts of perturbation and lethulity. The decision regarding hospital admission versus umbulutory cure i s also discussed. A theoretically infmmd approach to assessment should serve both interview and m e traditional psychological assessment methods.Prevention rests on assessment; assessment rests on definition.Shneidman (1985, p. vi) Of the common categories of suicidal behaviors, completed suicide is the most difficult to predict; it is the least common. Whereas the lifetime prevalence of attempted suicide in the general population in North America is estimated at 3% (Moscicki et al., 1989;Sakinofsky & Webster, 1994), the lifetime prevalence of completed suicide, at a conservative annual mean rate of 10 per 100,000. is 0.5%. A related and classic problem is the extrapolation of characteristics that denote suicidalit); in high-risk populations to specific individuals in those populations. Maris, Berman, and hlaltsberger ( 1992) have identified several other salient issues in suicide risk assessment, including membership in a high-risk group, the acuteness of risk/probability of action, the need for risk indicators to be clinically relevant, and the fact that "what is being predicted or assessed is not one thing, but actually many niul t id i men s ional , intersecting , and interacting para meters" ( p p.642-633). I n searching for relevant risk factors, the clinician should be cautious about combining clinical features found arnong suicide ideators, attempters, and completers, because they appear t o be o\.erlapping but different populations. The question of suicide risk is thus becoming more refined: Risk for which suicidal behavior, exactlv? 3lodels of risk assessment have often taken the form of lists of discrete symptoms or patterns, without an integrated perspective or guidelines for implementation. An assessment model should help organize the clinician's thinking about specific questions regarding a particular patient. It should be based, however, on current understanding of these questions. We propose a twotiered model of suicide risk assessment that comprises both background and subjective risk factors. 'The background factors are the sociodemographic and related indices that have been found to be correlated with increased risk. These indices are based on different cohorts, populations, and cultures, and many of them change over time (we describe North American trends). Backgrouncl factors are once removed from the individual being assessed. but in the aggregate they can inform the clinician about a patient's general level of risk. T...

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Suicide among American Indian Adolescents: An Overview

Cited by 68 publications

References 32 publications

Spirituality and attempted suicide among American Indians

Spirituality and attempted suicide among American Indians

American Indians: Presenting concerns and considerations for family therapists

Clinical model for suicide risk assessment

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