SUICIDE AMONG AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS

Suicide among African-American adolescents



Suicide among African-American adolescents

Introduction

"Suicide is the third leading cause of death... in the United States." (Bowlby, 2007) However, "suicide rates for American Indians and Alaska Natives...are two to three times higher than the national average." (Asarnow, 2008, 35) The problem is one of great magnitude. The United States has a responsibility to a population in trouble. It ought to concern each member of the population, not just those immediately affected. The root of the problem is in early colonial America when the settlers entered the country and began stealing the land from the African Americans. This also resulted in a chain of negative events that would influence African Americans in a negative way ever since.

Suicide among African-American adolescents

The exploitation of their land, their work and their differences from the Anglo-Saxon settlers was only the beginning. The hardships that followed as a result of this history of oppression are innumerable. One of these devastating effects is the suicide rate among this minority population. Nearly two times as high as for the rest of the population of the United States, the suicide statistics on African Americans are something we should not, and cannot, ignore. (Bowlby, 2007) What does this indicate? The rates of depression and suicidal tendencies are so high that they indicate something about the quality of life of these people- and the injustices that they suffer. In this paper, I will first look at and identify the problem of suicide, and its horrible effects on the African American population in the United States. I will then cite possible reasons why this is such a problem for the African Americans. The crisis that these people are going through is based on certain structural factors that have perpetuated it. Finally, I will discuss the ways that the government and the people are putting forth effort to help, or how they are neglecting to help, the American Indians. (Brent, 2007, 89)

Why are the African Americans afflicted with depression and high suicidal tendencies? This crisis is not just a growing trend; suicide among African Americans has become an epidemic that we cannot ignore any longer.

"American Indians and Alaska Natives have the highest suicide rates of all ethnic groups in the US. In a study of 11,666 American Indian and Alaska native teenagers, 22% of the girls and 12% of the boys had attempted suicide." [Borowsky et al., 573] The problem tends to be centered around the American Indian youth in that they are most likely to be at risk for committing, or at least attempting to commit, suicide. The reasons for this stem from the nature of the risk factors for suicidal tendencies being characteristic mostly of teens, as I will state later in this paper. For now, let us continue to identify the problem at hand. (Brent, 2007, 89)

"Suicide among American Indian adolescents on many reservations has increased 200 to 300 percent in the last two decades, the same rapidly increasing adolescent suicide rate that is being ...