http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/19/health/suicide-youth/
The rates of suicide among African-American children have doubled in the last two decades, surpassing the rates among white children, which dropped over the same time period, according to a new study.
Researchers looked at the suicide rates among children ages 5 to 11 between 1993 and 2012.
The rates overall did not change over these years, but the rates among black boys rose from 1.78 to 3.47 per 1 million. In contrast, suicides among white boys declined from 1.96 to 1.31 per million. In just the 5-year period between 2008 and 2012 there were 41 suicide deaths among black boys, and 73 among white boys.
"Suicide rates in the U.S. have historically been higher among white individuals across all age groups," said Jeffrey Bridge, epidemiologist at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who led the research, published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. "We were very surprised to see higher suicide rates among black children over time," added Bridge, who is also associate professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University.
In fact, the researchers waited for numbers from 2012 to be available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was their source of data, to have more confidence in what they were seeing. It did not change their findings.
The suicide rates among girls, although about five times lower than those for boys, followed the same racial trend.
The rates among black girls increased from 0.68 to 1.23 per 1 million, although the rise was not statistically significant. Meanwhile the rates among white girls appeared to be stable, at about 0.25 per million.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/health/us-suicide-rate-surges-to-a-30-year-high.html?_r=0
WASHINGTON —
Suicide in the United States has surged to the highest levels in nearly 30 years, a federal data analysis has found, with increases in every age group except older adults. The rise was particularly steep for women. It was also substantial among middle-aged Americans, sending a signal of deep anguish from a group whose suicide rates had been stable or falling since the 1950s.
The suicide rate for middle-aged women, ages 45 to 64, jumped by 63 percent over the period of the study, while it rose by 43 percent for men in that age range, the sharpest increase for males of any age. The overall suicide rate rose by 24 percent from 1999 to 2014, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, which released the study on Friday.
The increases were so widespread that they lifted the nation’s suicide rate to 13 per 100,000 people, the highest since 1986.
The rate rose by 2 percent a year starting in 2006, double the annual rise in the earlier period of the study. In all, 42,773 people died from suicide in 2014, compared with 29,199 in 1999.
BLACK SUICIDE: When Prayer Is Not Enough - EBONY
Although Black suicide has historically been low when compared to other groups, don’t be fooled. From 1981-1994, Black suicide rates grew by a ghastly 83%. Today suicide is the third leading cause of death among young African American men. In 2010, over 80% of all Black suicides were males. Women of most all ethnicities attempt suicide at a higher rate than men, yet men complete the task at a higher rate; a stomach pump does nothing for a gun-shot wound to the head. Black women are less likely than any other American demographic to commit suicide.
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Suicide for Black USA citizens has only been going up...and it is a leading cause of death for Black males...
United States citizens in general don't commit suicide as much as other nations...
And Black USA citizens are the most optimistic group of people in the country...
