“It's a white thing”: An exploration of beliefs about suicide in the African‐American community

Early, Kevin E.; Akers, Ronald L.

doi:10.1080/01639625.1993.9967947

Cited by 80 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Early and Akers's (1993) interviews of 30 Black pastors revealed assumptions that suicide is outside "the Black experience" (p. 283) and perceived as a "denial of Black identity and culture" (p. 287). The Black experience was characterized by struggle, and Black people were believed to be more resilient than White people because of the history of economic, political, and social deprivation.…”

Section: Religiosity and Attitudes Toward Suicidementioning

confidence: 99%

Lay Theories of Suicide: An Examination of Culturally Relevant Suicide Beliefs and Attributions among African Americans and European Americans

Walker

Lester

Joe

2006

Journal of Black Psychology

109

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The purpose of this study was to examine African Americans' lay beliefs and attributions toward suicide. The Attitudes Toward Suicide Scale, Life Ownership Orientation Questionnaire, Stigma Questionnaire, and Suicide Ideation Questionnaire were administered to 251 undergraduate college students. Beliefs about stigma associated with suicide were comparable across ethnic groups. However, African American college students were significantly less likely than European American college students were to attribute suicide to interpersonal problems and to report that the individual or government is responsible for life. African American students were significantly more likely to report that God is responsible for life. These findings have important implications for suicide risk and also for developing culturally appropriate interventions.Keywords lay theory; suicide; beliefs; attributions; African AmericanThe low suicide rate among African Americans has been attributed in part to long-standing cultural values and beliefs that resist suicidal behavior as a problem-solving alternative (e.g., Gibbs, 1997). However, suicide risk, along with other public health problems, is typically understudied in African American populations, and empirical support for widely held assumptions is sparse. Challenges to understanding suicide in the African American community are compounded by limitations (e.g., false positives) that plague suicide science and prediction of high-risk behavior in the United States. 1 Despite widely held speculation that suicide among African Americans is buffered by cultural beliefs, empirical literature that addresses African Americans' lay attributions for suicide is limited.The purpose of this article is to explore African American lay beliefs about suicide. An interesting question is to ascertain whether these lay beliefs are culturally specific to African

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Section: Religiosity and Attitudes Toward Suicidementioning

confidence: 99%

Lay Theories of Suicide: An Examination of Culturally Relevant Suicide Beliefs and Attributions among African Americans and European Americans

Walker

Lester

Joe

2006

Journal of Black Psychology

109

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“…Culture can be defined as the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by language, religion, social habits, music, and arts, and expressed by shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and understanding learned by socialization (Leong & Leach, 2008). It has been proposed that, for many African Americans, the most important protective factor against suicide is religiosity, or a strong conviction condemning suicide as sinful (Early & Akers, 1993;Gibbs, 1997;Molock, Puri, Matlin, & Barksdale, 2006). Consistent with this notion, researchers have found that lower suicide rates among African Americans are partially explained by a strong belief that suicide is an unacceptable option no matter how dire one's life circumstances (Early & Akers, 1993;Stack, 1998).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…It has been proposed that, for many African Americans, the most important protective factor against suicide is religiosity, or a strong conviction condemning suicide as sinful (Early & Akers, 1993;Gibbs, 1997;Molock, Puri, Matlin, & Barksdale, 2006). Consistent with this notion, researchers have found that lower suicide rates among African Americans are partially explained by a strong belief that suicide is an unacceptable option no matter how dire one's life circumstances (Early & Akers, 1993;Stack, 1998). Others have proposed that African Americans' high rates of participation in churches and religious communities, in addition to social belongingness, may be protective against suicide (Carrington, 2006;Waite & Killian, 2008).…”

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confidence: 99%

Resilience, Cultural Beliefs, and Practices That Mitigate Suicide Risk Among African American Women Veterans

et al. 2018

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Current Armed Forces members are more than twice as likely as members of the general population to die by suicide (Department of Defense [DoD] Task Force on the Prevention of Suicide by Members of the Armed Forces, 2010). Suicide is also the second leading cause of death among individuals in the U.S. Armed Forces (Bryan, Jennings, Jobes, & Bradley, 2012). Although efforts within the DoD and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have focused on understanding how to prevent suicide among Service Members and Veterans (including identifying drivers of suicidal self-directed violence [SDV]), the majority of research has centered on men, due to the fact that men generally are far more likely than women to die by suicide. However, a recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of VA found the suicide rate among women Veterans is approaching that of male Veterans. The 2015 report, which drew data from the VA's Suicide Repository as well as death information from 23 states, indicated that among those who have never served in the military, women (5.2 per 100,000 lives) kill themselves far less than men (20.9 per 100,000 lives; Hoffmire, Kemp, & Bossarte, 2015). However, there is less disparity in suicide rates between Veteran women (28.7 per 100,000 lives) and Veteran men (32.1 per 100,000 lives; Hoffmire et al., 2015).Though it is not clear what is driving the increase in suicide rates among women Veterans, recent findings suggest suicide rates may have more to do with who chooses to join the military than what happened during their service (e.g., deployment, military sexual trauma). The largest study of mental health and resilience ever conducted among military personnel found that men and women who join the military are more likely to have endured difficult childhoods, including emotional and sexual abuse (Kessler et al., 2014). In addition, this study revealed Army personnel had elevated rates of suicide ideation (Nock et al., 2014), suicide attempts (Nock et al., 2014), and various mental health problems (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, and substance use disorder) prior to enlistment (Kessler et al., 2014).The gender differential in suicide rates becomes even more complex when culture is considered, suggesting that there is far more diversity across cultures than there is between genders. This is potentially problematic considering the U.S. Armed Forces has become increasingly diverse in terms of race and gender composition (Kang et al., 2015). For example, African American men make up 30.7% of the Armed Forces

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“…Most of the scholarship in this area has been based on anecdotal information or qualitative studies (Early & Akers, 1993). Walker and her colleagues were particularly interested in whether such lay beliefs (e.g., suicide is a sin) are culturally specific to African Americans (emic) or whether they represent a broader universal (etic) view of suicide beliefs regarding suicide.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Early and Akers (1993) did a qualitative study of African American ministers who felt that suicide was a "White thing" that was an anathema to a culture that was noted for its resiliency in the face of racial discrimination and oppression. Wright (1985) wrote a provocative essay entitled "Black Suicide: Lynching by Any Other Name," in which he interpreted Black suicide as a method of genocide that was perpetuated and controlled by Whites and thus argued that there was no such thing as "Black suicide.…”

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confidence: 99%

Introduction: Suicidal Behaviors in the African American Community

Crosby¹,

Molock

2006

Journal of Black Psychology

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“It's a white thing”: An exploration of beliefs about suicide in the African‐American community

Cited by 80 publications

References 7 publications

Lay Theories of Suicide: An Examination of Culturally Relevant Suicide Beliefs and Attributions among African Americans and European Americans

Lay Theories of Suicide: An Examination of Culturally Relevant Suicide Beliefs and Attributions among African Americans and European Americans

Resilience, Cultural Beliefs, and Practices That Mitigate Suicide Risk Among African American Women Veterans

Introduction: Suicidal Behaviors in the African American Community

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