Ethnic Differences in Suicidal Ideation and Attempts

This article provides an update on the relationship between ethnicity & suicide ideation & attempts. It reviews the rates of suicide ideation & attempts across ethnic groups in the Untied States as well as the risk factors associated with suicide attempts in each ethnic group. Findings from published studies underscore the need to conduct large studies in general population samples that include enough individuals from all ethnic groups & that are large enough to detect significant effects among these groups. Mental health professionals should focus on factors consistently found to be strongly associated with suicide attempts across different populations, including major depressive disorder, other psychiatric disorders, female gender, & young age. (73 refs.) JA