Rising Suicidality in Black Youth: What Explains the Trend? Exploring Resilience & Vulnerability Factors

• In Event: Revitalizing the Sociology of Suicide

Abstract

For decades, Black Americans have reported lower rates of suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts compared to their White peers. This finding, sometimes called the “minority suicide paradox,” is striking given that Black Americans are exposed to greater stressors than their White peers and often have fewer socioeconomic resources to cope with those stressors. But new evidence suggests that this paradox is beginning to disappear. Among Black youth, rates of suicidality now surpass those of White youth in recent surveys. What accounts for this change? Leveraging original survey data on White and Black youth ages 18 to 25 (N = 1105), the present study attempts to validate existing findings while also investigating potential mechanisms. Special attention is paid to the online environment, including exposure to race-related traumatic events (Tynes et al. 2019) such as the video of George Floyd’s murder. Preliminary results confirm higher suicidality among Black youth across all measures of interest—although White youth still report higher rates of nonsuicidal self-injury. Suicidality is significantly linked to consumption of race-related traumatic events, including online videos showing Black people killed by police.

Author

• Max Elliott Coleman, University of Utah