Racial and ethnic differences in risk factors associated with suicidal behavior among young adults in the USA

Abstract

Objective. The objectives of this study are to examine racial and ethnic differences in suicidal behaviour, its main risk factors, and the effect of the risk factors on suicidal behaviour in young adults in the United States.

Design. Using nationally representative data (n = 10,585) from Add Health, we calculate the prevalence of suicidal behavior and associated risk factors for non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic youth (aged 18–26) using logistic regression models of suicidal ideation stratified by race.

Results. Non-Hispanic White and Hispanic young adults have higher rates of suicidal ideation than their non-Hispanic Black counterparts, but racial/ethnic differences in attempts are not statistically significant. Non-Hispanic Whites and Hispanic young adults are more likely to possess key risk factors for suicide. With the exception of substance use variables (i.e. alcohol and marijuana use) which appear to be more conducive to suicidal ideation in non-Hispanic Black than in non-Hispanic White young adults, the effects of risk factors appear to be similar across race/ethnicity.

Conclusion. The higher prevalence of suicidal ideation in non-Hispanic White and Hispanic young adults may be driven by their greater exposure to risk factors, as opposed to differences in the effects of these risk factors. More research is needed to uncover why non-Hispanic White and Hispanic young adults have higher rates of suicidal ideation than their non-Hispanic Black counterparts; yet, rates of suicide attempts are comparable and non-Hispanic White young adults have the highest rate of completed suicides.

Keywords:

• suicide
• risk factors
• public health
• race

Acknowledgments

This research uses the data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by the grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due to Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from the grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis. The authors declare no competing interests.

We thank Drs Ellen Idler and Jane Miller, as well as Ms. Jenny Zhen-Duan for their helpful comments and Diane Davis for assistance with the data. Funding for this research was provided by an internship under Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Human Capital grant #60184: ‘Enlarging the pipeline of health researchers from underrepresented groups through an internship model (Project L/EARN).’