Ethnic Differences in Patterns of Suicide Across the Life Cycle

This study examined suicide across the life cycle in an urban population equally divided between African-Americans & Caucasians by using 2 sets of data: all suicides in Fulton County, Georgia, January 1994Ð December 2002; & all U.S. suicides reported by the National Center for Injury Prevention in 1999-2000. The results indicate that the suicide rate of African-Americans is much lower than that of Caucasians. However, African-Americans die by suicide at younger ages & have a narrow, age-defined window of vulnerability. (32 refs)