The Association Between Racial Discrimination and Suicidality among African-American Adolescents and Young Adults

Suraj Arshanapally, Kimberly B. Werner, Carolyn E. Sartor, Kathleen K. Bucholz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study assessed the association between racial discrimination and suicidality (ideation, plan, or attempt) in African-American adolescents and young adults (n = 806, mean age = 17.9 years). Structured psychiatric phone interviews were conducted in offspring and their mothers in a high-risk alcoholism family study. Logistic regression analyses using offspring’s own racial discrimination as a predictor revealed elevated odds of suicidality, even after adjusting for correlated psychiatric conditions (OR = 1.76) but was reduced to non-significance after adjusting for maternal experiences of racial discrimination (OR = 3.19 in males), depression, and problem drinking. Findings support a link between racial discrimination and suicidality in African-American youth that, for males, is partially explained by maternal racial discrimination.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)584-595
Number of pages12
JournalArchives of Suicide Research
Volume22
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2 2018

Keywords

  • African-Americans
  • adolescents
  • racial discrimination
  • suicidality
  • young adults

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