Neighborhood Belonging and Thoughts of Death Among Hispanics in the United States

Abstract

Objective

Suicide rates among Hispanics in the United States have steadily risen over the last 2 decades, especially among youth and adults in midlife. Social disconnection (low belonging) is associated with suicidal ideation; however, little is known about the demographic and social factors that impact a sense of belonging among Hispanic adults in midlife. The current study sought to examine (a) the association between demographic and social factors (acculturative stress, community integration and engagement, religiosity, ethnic cohesion) and neighborhood belonging as well as (b) whether neighborhood belonging is associated with passive suicide ideation (thoughts of death) among a community sample of Hispanic adults.

Method

This study uses a sample of 968 Hispanic adults in midlife, from Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Dominican backgrounds, from the Midlife in the United Sates (MIDUS): Survey of Minority Groups.

Results

Overall, community integration, religiosity, and community engagement were unique positive predictors of neighborhood belonging; lifetime number of discrete events of discrimination was the only unique negative predictor. Among foreign-born respondents, community integration, community engagement, and discrimination were associated with neighborhood belonging, whereas, among U.S.-born respondents, only religiosity and community were associated with belonging. Neighborhood belonging was the only variable negatively associated with thoughts of death among depressed participants.

Conclusion

Fostering a sense of neighborhood belonging among Hispanic adults—particularly via promoting community engagement—may help decrease suicide risk.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Integration, engagement, and religiosity positively predicted belonging in Hispanic adults

• Lifetime events of discrimination was the only negative predictor of neighborhood belonging

• Lower neighborhood belonging was associated with thoughts of death among depressed participants

Keywords:

• Hispanics
• Latinos
• neighborhood belonging
• suicide ideation

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Language proficiency, generational status, and discrimination frequency were chosen as indicators as these are prominent factors that contribute to stress experienced in adapting to a new culture (i.e., acculturative stress). Accordingly, scales of acculturative stress capture these dimensions (Mena et al., 1987; Rodriguez et al., 2002).

2 Tests of the assumption of collinearity indicated that multicollinearity was not a concern (all tolerance > .1 and variance inflation factor < 10). The data also met the assumption of independent errors (Durbin-Watson value = 1.80).

3 Generational status was not entered as a covariate in this model because all foreign-born respondents are only first-generation.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health [K23MH096936; T32MH020061] and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences [KL2 TR001999]. The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in ICPSR at https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR02856.v4.

Notes on contributors

Caroline Silva

Dr. Caroline Silva, PhD, Dr. Nora Douglas, MD, MHS, and Dr. Kim Van Orden, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA.

Nora Douglas

Dr. Caroline Silva, PhD, Dr. Nora Douglas, MD, MHS, and Dr. Kim Van Orden, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA.