Reducing Inequality Reduces American Indian and Alaska Native Suicide

• In Event: 598 - Section on Sociology of Mental Health Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 09. Suicide

Abstract

Abstract

Efforts to understand the sociology of suicide since Durkheim’s classic work have increasingly focused on ethnic or racial subgroups. This study contributes to this literature by examining the social environments that American Indians and Alaska Natives live in today that reflect a century of policies that segregated and marginalized tribal communities. By examining the role of American states’ predominant governance philosophies and redistributive policies as well as American Indian specific structural disadvantage reflecting federal trust polices, we test Durkheim’s social integration and regulation thesis. We examine the role of state government policies reflecting socially inclusive policies (i.e., state redistributive policies) and governance philosophies (i.e., liberal to conservative) that increase social regulation on the well-being of American Indians and Alaska Natives by modeling state-level suicide counts between 2005 and 2010. Using a negative binomial regression analysis, we control for other relevant factors, such as a state’s human capital (e.g., education, employment). Data comes from multiple sources, including the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the 2000 U.S. Census. Findings suggest that fewer suicides are observed in states that have more liberal policy orientations and therefore tend to be more inclusive of their residents. Thus, state government ideologies and policies play an influential role in creating social environments that affect the health and well-being of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Authors

• Carmela Marie Roybal, University of New Mexico

• R. Burciaga Valdez, University of New Mexico