Youth suicide trends in California: an examination of immigrant and ethnic group risk

Suicide Life Threat Behav. 1996 Summer;26(2):143-54.

Abstract

Although immigrants are in better health than the U.S.-born population according to a variety of indicators, little research has investigated current foreign-born/U.S.-born differentials in suicide. A review of 32,928 California death certificates from 1970 to 1992 indicates that although foreign-born persons are consistently underrepresented in the suicide deaths of 15- to 34-year-olds (risk ratio = 0.60), any foreign-versus U.S.-born difference by ethnicity appears to be decreasing. Specifically, although Hispanics born outside the United States consistently are at significantly lower risk of suicide than U.S.-born Hispanics, the discrepancy between the two groups has diminished over time. And, in a comparable trend, non-Hispanic white persons born outside the United States were at higher risk of suicide than their U.S.-born counterparts until 1990, when their risk became similar. Black and Asian/other foreign- and U.S.-born persons have been at statistically similar risk since 1970. A man using a firearm at home was the typical pattern for both the foreign- and U.S.-born.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • California / epidemiology
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cross-Cultural Comparison
  • Emigration and Immigration / statistics & numerical data*
  • Ethnicity / psychology
  • Ethnicity / statistics & numerical data*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Risk Factors
  • Suicide / ethnology
  • Suicide / psychology
  • Suicide / trends*
  • Wounds, Gunshot / ethnology
  • Wounds, Gunshot / mortality
  • Wounds, Gunshot / psychology