Suicide among East Asians in North America: A scoping review

Abstract

Background

Suicide is among the leading causes of death in North America for various age groups. Given the far-reaching impacts of suicide on families and societies, there is growing research on this phenomenon; yet, most focus primarily on mainstream populations (i.e. Caucasian, native-born Americans or Canadians) and/or aggregated population data. As a result cultural considerations within multi-cultural milieus and increasing globalization can be overlooked.

Aims

This scoping review reports findings drawn from 11 studies examining suicide among East Asian (EA) population in North America.

Method

A web-based literature search was performed to identify original research articles published from January 2002 to December 2011, addressing suicide among EAs living in North America, specifically in the USA and Canada.

Results

Four prominent thematic findings were identified in the literature related to: (1) rates of suicidal ideation and behavior among EAs in North America; (2) acculturation; (3) family support and conflict; and (4) other cultural and ethnic considerations.

Conclusions

Further research, particularly qualitative and/or mixed methods, is needed to provide a more complete understanding of suicide among this under-studied population. This article concludes with a list of recommendations for future research based on the review.

Keywords:

• suicide
• culture
• immigrant
• East Asian

Notes

While acknowledging that North America includes Bermuda, Canada, Greenland, Mexico, Saint Pierre and the USA – for the purposes of this review we have used the term North America in the title and text to refer to both Canada and the USA, the countries from which the reviewed studies were drawn.

A visible minority is a person who is visibly not one of the majority race in a given population. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/concepts/definitions/minority-minorite1-eng.htm

(1) Recent immigrants, (2) second generation of immigrants and (3) third generation of immigrants.

The CSRLI is comprised of six subscales: (1) Survival and Coping Beliefs, (2) College and Future-Related Concerns, (3) Moral Objections, (4) Responsibility to Friends and Family, (5) the Fear of Suicide and (6) Fear of Social Disapproval.

For example, the Suicide Probability Scale (SPS); The Suicidal Ideation (SIQ); The Beck Depression Inventory (2ed). (BDI-II) The Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS). Or modified version of existing scales (e.g. the modified version of the WMH Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI); The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 3ed. (DSM-III).