Differences in Nonfatal Suicide Behaviors Among Mexican and European American Middle School Children

This report describes ethnic & gender differences in suicide ideation among 2 large samples of middle school students in New Mexico (n=2140) & Texas (n=1302). Students completed a self-administered questionnaire on suicide ideation & psychosocial risk factors. Mexican Americans in both samples reported significantly higher prevalence of suicide ideation than did their European American counterparts. Mexican Americans were 1.8 times more likely to have high suicide ideation than European Americans. The suicide ideation risk for Mexican Americans remained unchanged in both samples after adjusting for gender, age, family structure, depression, low social support, & self-esteem. Ethnicity plays an important role in suicidal ideation but the mechanism remains unclear. (42 refs.)