Why is there a racial disparity in suicide?

According to save.org, the rate of suicide per 100,000 population is:

• Whites: 16.5
• Blacks: 8.4
• American Indian/Alaska Natives: 16.8
• Asian: 6.9

I get the male/female disparity, because obviously men and women are different, but could there really be something inherent in a particular race of people which makes them more susceptible to, or immune from suicide? It would seem to me that this is not the case.

SOURCE: https://save.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2021datapgsv1.pdf

 

Whites are more likely to get struck by lightning too.

Probably more related to culture than anything.

In Japan the suicide rates are pretty high, but if a Japanese kid doesn't do his studies they will be shunned by their friends and and risk being drawn and quartered by family. Here in the U.S. most cultures in our multicultural society don't place the same high value on school grades and the cultures that do tend to find success.

Edited to add, Like I said before some other place on this forum- the demographics are divided up by race. But race is negligible. If race does not matter then it does not matter, but to those deciding the parameters of the demographics, race most certainly does matter.

I wonder what the results in suicide statistics would show if the demographics were divided up by shoe size. I'll bet the information would be just as relevant as dividing demographics by race.

 

Hi, chris.

Sub-culture cannot be ruled out a priori. This is separate from one's biological race.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.

 

Yes, but I struggle to come up with a cultural difference which would explain the disparity.

 

Too much alcohol and they offed themselves.

How's that for a demographic?

Or, maybe father absent household. That'd be a good figure to figure.

 

Hi again, chris.

This sounds like something on which to spend a long winter researching. Chances are that there's a number of studies extant.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.

 

Well father absent households applies to blacks far more than whites. So that can't be it.

 

Do you agree @Green Man?

 

This is a complicated question, and ties into why there are racial disparities with a lot of other things.

But one of the big reasons probably has to do with genetics and personality traits.

If we look at the world, what we see is that groups that have the highest discipline and self-control also tend to have the highest suicide rates. It comes with a trade-off.

 

That's because these things are not so easily expressed in words and are complicated.
Probably more complicated than you would want to hear.

Some of this is about genetic selection. Things have long been tougher for blacks, so the ones who didn't have what it took to get through those situations didn't make it to pass down their genes.
Think about this. It would kind of be like if you took a big group of people, exposed them to a lifetime of horrific conditions, so horrible that 1 out of 10 of them chose to kill themselves, and then those people had children, who were immediately adopted into other families with normal living conditions. We would expect the suicide rate of those children to be significantly lower, since certain gene traits had been rooted out of the genetic pool.

 

So basically, because of all of the crap that blacks have had to go through throughout American history -- namely slavery -- only the toughest ones survived?

 

Well, the most resilient ones. The ones who wouldn't want to kill themselves.
Ever hear about the stereotype of "the happy Negro"? There's some truth to stereotypes.

 

Those numbers would be slanted for a political narrative.
Using those figures compared to 100K population doesn't give you a meaningful percentage
For example, Blacks are 8.4 but are only 13% of the population
Whites are 16.5 but 60% of the population
Meaning if blacks were 60% of the pop, given the existing number at only 13% of the pop, they would be closer to 35-40 rate per 100K pop.

So the actual ranking would be
1. Native Americans
2. Blacks
3. Whites
4. Asian

 

It is per 100k within each race.

 

No that’s the point of reporting per capita (per 100k population). It controls for differences in percentage population. If they used total numbers of suicides, then you’d need to do what you did.

 

chatgpt gave a decent answer similar to what I would have written with effort:

“There are a variety of factors that may contribute to the lower suicide rates among Black Americans compared to other racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Some of these factors may include:

1. Strong social support: Black Americans tend to place a strong emphasis on social support and community, which may provide a protective factor against suicide.
   
   
2. Cultural and religious beliefs: Many Black Americans are affiliated with religious or spiritual traditions that discourage suicide and promote hope and resilience.
   
   
3. Coping mechanisms: Black Americans may use coping mechanisms such as humor, music, and spirituality to deal with stress and trauma.
   
   
4. Historical resilience: Black Americans have faced centuries of systemic racism and oppression, which may have resulted in the development of a strong collective resilience and resistance against adversity.
   
   
5. Access to firearms: Suicide rates are often higher in areas where firearms are more readily available. Black Americans are less likely to own firearms than other racial/ethnic groups, which may contribute to lower suicide rates.

It's important to note that suicide rates can be influenced by a variety of factors, including mental health conditions, access to mental health care, and socioeconomic status, among others. More research is needed to fully understand the reasons behind the lower suicide rates among Black Americans.”

 

No, they are all based on 332 million.
If you divide by 100K you get 3320
Then if you divide 3320 by Blacks (3807) you get the percent of deaths .08 which is reflected in the chart
Which is per 100K

 

No, they are all based on 332 million.
If you divide by 100K you get 3320
Then if you divide 3320 by Blacks (3807) you get the percent of deaths .08 which is reflected in the chart
Which is per 100K

 

Where are you getting that from?

 

General US population. I think they used 332 million.
But I think the rate number is based on race to get 8.4

 

But you're only arguing that blacks have a lower suicide rate than Native Americans, aren't you?

 

Yeah, this is what I thought.

 

No, I mean, where did you get that they are all based on 332 million?

 

I rounded off the US pop and divided with the given numbers and the numbers just worked out.
THe US pop was 331.9

 

Why would it seem to you, not to be the case, when you present the evidence, yourself, that indicates that it indeed, is the case?

Suicide is strictly a cultural and psychological issue. Does it seem not to be the case to you, that there are, at least, different cultures among peoples of different races?

Here is a NY Times article which confirms this difference, and purports to explain it. I don't know for sure if it does, since the Times only gives one a limited number of articles for free, so I didn't want to hit "read full article." If you do, though, maybe you could explain to me, what they say? And grab a Snip, as well, if you don't mind, while you're there.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/upshot/suicide-demographic-differences.html

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2780380

<Snip>


Results
The overall age-adjusted rates (Figure 1) indicate a decrease in suicide rates between 2018 and 2019 for White and American Indian or Alaska Native individuals, reflecting the decrease in total deaths. The age-adjusted rate increased for Black and Asian or Pacific Islander individuals. The increasing trend for these groups began in 2014; between 2014 and 2019, the suicide rate increased by 30% for Black individuals (from 5.7 to 7.4 per 100 000 individuals) and 16% for Asian or Pacific Islander individuals (from 6.1 to 7.1 per 100 000 individuals). Based on the 2014 to 2017 trend, the change between 2018 to 2019 was in the expected range for Black individuals (2019 actual: 7.4 per 100 000 individuals; expected: 7.3-8.0 per 100 000 individuals), Asian or Pacific Islander individuals (2019 actual: 7.1 per 100 000 individuals; expected: 7.0-7.5 per 100 000 individuals), and Hispanic individuals (2019 actual: 7.3 per 100 000 individuals; expected: 7.3-8.0 per 100 000 individuals), but the change was outside of the expected range for White individuals (2019 actual: 17.6 per 100 000 individuals; expected: 18.0-18.9 per 100 000 individuals), American Indian or Alaskan Native individuals (2019 actual: 22.2 per 100 000 individuals; expected: 22.5-24.6 per 100 000 individuals), and the total population (2019 actual: 13.9 per 100 000 individuals, expected: 14.3-14.7 per 100 000 individuals).

For both male and female youth aged 15 to 24 years, suicide rates were higher among American Indian or Alaskan Native youth (eg, 2019 rate among female youth: 23.0 per 100 000 individuals) and White youth (6.1 per 100 000 individuals) relative to Black youth (4.3 per 100 000 individuals), Asian or Pacific Islander youth (5.1 per 100 000 individuals), and Hispanic youth (4.4 per 100 000 individuals) for all years. Figure 2 illustrates that the suicide rate increased for Black male youth in this age group by 47%, from 12.2 per 100 000 individuals in 2013 to 17.9 per 100 000 individuals in 2019, and for Asian or Pacific Islander male youth in this age group by 40%, from 12.0 per 100 000 individuals in 2013 to 16.8 per 100 000 individuals in 2019. The rates from 2018 to 2019 increased for Black and Asian or Pacific Islander male youth in this age group within the expected range given the 2013 to 2017 trend (Black, 2019 actual: 17.9 per 100 000 individuals; expected: 17.5-19.0 per 100 000 individuals; Asian or Pacific Islander, 2019 actual: 16.8 per 100 000 individuals; expected: 16.5-17.9 per 100 000 individuals), in contrast to the decrease seen among White youth in this age group, which fell outside of the expected range (2019 actual: 25.4 per 100 000 individuals; expected: 27.7-29.0 per 100 000 individuals). Similar increases were found among female youth aged 15 to 24 years: between 2013 and 2019, the rate increased by 59% among Black female youth in this age group (from 2.7 to 4.3 per 100 000 individuals) and 42% among Asian or Pacific Islander female youth in this age group (from 3.6 to 5.1 per 100 000 individuals).