A Sociocultural Autopsy: Self-Destructive Behavior Among the Duck Valley Indians

The author reported on his research into death patterns on the Duck Valley Reservation. Official death records were compared with on-reservation records to identify all non-natural deaths from 1969-78. Data on unequivocal suicides for 1949-78 were also collected as were data on all known suicide attempts during 1972-78. Preliminary results yielded a rough completed suicide rate of 140/100,000. The author intended to make comparisons to other tribes for whom reliable records were available.