Suicide among Blacks

Deindustrialization, Disadvantage and Suicide among Young Black Males

“…In contrast to Burr et al (1999), he found that "diminishing racial income inequality fails to impact either the white male or the white female suicide rates, but as expected, tends to raise the suicide rates of both non-white males and non-white females." (p. 178) Although South (1984) maintains that this finding supports Jedlicka et al's (1977) claim that "the racial convergence in suicide rates is another and less welcome indication of black assimilation in the general stream of American society," (1984:173) three methodological issues must be noted. (1) Few structural characteristics were controlled for in the study, potentially resulting in missing variable bias.…”

“…Interviewees suggested that this cultural message stemmed from a history of religion, oppression, hardship and moral values. Some went so far as to suggest that blacks who did commit suicide were those more integrated into white culture -a view taken by some scholars as well (Davis 1980;Jedlicka et al, 1977;South 1984). Consistent with these findings, Ellis and Range (1991) discovered that black college students scored significantly higher in certain sections of the Reason For Living Inventory (Linehan et al 1983); specifically, blacks more strongly endorsed the importance of "survival and coping" and "moral values" as reasons to live.…”

African‐American Women and Suicide: A Review and Critique of the Literature

“…Contemporary social scientists concur that the racial suicide paradox remains perplexing (Barnes and Bell 2003; Jedlicka et al. 1977; Lester 1998; Rockett et al.…”

“…Contemporary social scientists concur that the racial suicide paradox remains perplexing (Barnes and Bell 2003;Jedlicka et al 1977;Lester 1998;Rockett et al 2006;Gibbs 1997). The social, physical, and mental health disparities as well as the pervasively oppressive conditions that African-American women deal with leave scholars baffled by their actual suicide rates.…”

“…While researchers claim that risk factors are a useful tool in predicting suicidal behavior, identifying protective factors that may minimize African-American women's suicide rates has taken precedence, as scholars believe that the low rates can be attributed to protective factors that operate in the lives of many African-American women (Jedlicka et al 1977;Lester 1998;Marion and Range 2001;Poussaint 2001;Utsey et al 2007). Protective factors are defined as characteristics that potentially buffer people from the risk of suicide (McIntosh 2006).…”