Structural indicators of suicide: an exploration of state-level risk factors among Black and White people in the United States, 2015 –2019

Structural indicators of suicide: an exploration of state-level risk factors among Black and White people in the United States, 2015–2019 Ryan A. Robertson, Corbin J. Standley, John F. Gunn III, Ijeoma Opara Journal of Public Mental Health, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.- Death by suicide among Black people in the USA have increased by 35.6% within the past decade. Among youth under the age of 24 years old, death by suicide among Black youth have risen substantially. Researchers have found that structural inequities (e.g. educational attainment) and state-specific variables (e.g. minimum wage, incarceration rates) may increase risk for suicide among Black people compared to White people in the USA. Given the limited understanding of how such factors systematically affect Black and White communities differently, this paper aims to examine these relationships across US states using publicly available data from 2015 to 2019. Data were aggregated from various national sources including the National Center for Education Statistics, the Department of Labor, the FBI’s Crime in the US Reports and the Census Bureau. Four generalized estimating equations (GEE) models were used to examine the impact of state-level variables on suicide rates: Black adults suicide rate, Black youth (24 years and younger) suicide rate, White adult suicide rate and White youth suicide rate. Each model includes state-level hate group rates, minimum wage,...
Source: Journal of Public Mental Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: research