Dec 13, 2007 05:01PM GMT
Question
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Religion - Other
White women are three times more likely to commit suicide than black women. Can you believe this alarming Statistic?
Race, Sex, and SuicideAmong women, whites are most likely to end their own lives. Researchers recently examined the medical records of female suicide victims from North Carolina between 1989 and 1993. They found that race was an unexpected risk factor.
By:Colin Allen
White women are three times more likely to commit suicide than black women. Researchers recently examined the medical records of female suicide victims from North Carolina between 1989 and 1993. They found that race was an unexpected risk factor.
The study's goal was to learn the causes of suicide, but the researchers concluded that medical and police records were too vague. Even when researchers interviewed law enforcement officers about all 177 cases of suicide in 1993, there was not enough information to fully understand the problem.
While her study cannot explain the race difference, lead author Carol Runyon, Ph.D., from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, encourages law enforcement officials to keep better track of risk factors, so other suicides may be averted.
Suicide "may have something to do with what people consider unbearable," says Henry Seiden, Ph.D., the author of Silent Grief: Living in the Wake of Suicide. "Women [in ethnic minorities] may be used to living with much lower expectations." Thus they may be less suicidal. He notes that it is much more difficult to find information on attempted suicides. It could be that white women are more successful at their attempts.
Other risk factors, known from previous studies, were confirmed in this research. A history of mental illness, previous suicide attempts and domestic abuse all remain factors.
The study appears in the current issue of Injury Prevention.
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Answered Yes
It's unfortunate when people feel that there is no other way out and choose to take their own lives. I think at some point all of us have contemplated our own existance and it's worth. I sincerely hope that we can find a way to drop these numbers across the board. They've risen slightly in the past decade. -
Answered Yes
A white friend of mine once contemplated suicide (it hurt seeing her through that time), she also used to cut herself, as did a few other white and hispanic acquaintences of mine. But I've never personally known a black person who's contemplated suicide or even cut themselves. -
Answered Yes
It's a cultural thing. The same reason why 99.9% of serial killers are white. I had the privilege of living and working in an all black community for two years and made some life long friends whom I cherish. I immediately saw
very big differences in family interaction. The women of black families are
strong, and are so completely loving, they hold it all together. Everyone looks after each other in a way that is very different. Families are close and do not loose contact with each other, I talking about cousins, uncles,
aunts, everyone is important not matter what road they have chosen in life.
The family focus is on higher education and having real estate to pass on to their heirs, and they do pass it on instead of spending the $$ on themselves. Woman are happy with who they are and have a quiet confidence lacking in a lot of white women. Anyway that is part of what I experienced. -
Answered Yes
I think today black women are taught to stand up for themselves more than in the past, but there are large circles where white women are taught the opposite. I know my mother was kicked out of a church choir for divorcing my abusive, drug-using step-father - she was told that God didn't want her to get divorced and that therefore she wasn't a fit example for the congregation to follow. My step-father was allowed to continue all his church-related activities, though.
I see this 'women should be submissive' idea preached in several churches, especially since moving to the mid-west. I can't imagine the same is taught to women in predominately black churches. -
Answered Undecided
High expectations bring about hope and too much hope brings about eventual failure. We would need to look at the breakdown of particular variables because without them, as with other data, Euro-American rates appear to be higher then average due to the EA population being larger. THings like murder, violence, and so forth, as causes of murder might be other sorts of data that could be added and so forth. Florida and other southern states as well as Colorado all appear to be inimical places for women generally.
adapted from: http://www.suicide.org/suicid...
Here is a national example, that follows:
"U.S. Suicide Statistics (2001)
Breakdown by Gender / Ethnicity / Young, Old Age Groups
Rate Per
Number Per Day 100,000 % of Deaths
Total .............30,622.............
Males .............24,672.............
Females.............5,950.......
Whites.............27,710.......
Nonwhites...........2,912.......
Blacks..............1,957.......
Elderly (65+ yrs.) .5,393..........14.8............
Young (15-24 yrs.)..3,971..........10.9......
Note that suicide can strike virtually anyone – young, old, white, black, male, female – anyone. Even children below 10 years old can die by suicide. So it is imperative that a suicidal person receives immediate help. If you know someone who is acutely suicidal, call 911 immediately. And remember that anyone, and I mean anyone, c...High expectations bring about hope and too much hope brings about eventual failure. We would need to look at the breakdown of particular variables because without them, as with other data, Euro-American rates appear to be higher then average due to the EA population being larger. THings like murder, violence, and so forth, as causes of murder might be other sorts of data that could be added and so forth. Florida and other southern states as well as Colorado all appear to be inimical places for women generally.
adapted from: http://www.suicide.org/suicid...
Here is a national example, that follows:
"U.S. Suicide Statistics (2001)
Breakdown by Gender / Ethnicity / Young, Old Age Groups
Rate Per
Number Per Day 100,000 % of Deaths
Total .............30,622.............
Males .............24,672.............
Females.............5,950.......
Whites.............27,710.......
Nonwhites...........2,912.......
Blacks..............1,957.......
Elderly (65+ yrs.) .5,393..........14.8............
Young (15-24 yrs.)..3,971..........10.9......
Note that suicide can strike virtually anyone – young, old, white, black, male, female – anyone. Even children below 10 years old can die by suicide. So it is imperative that a suicidal person receives immediate help. If you know someone who is acutely suicidal, call 911 immediately. And remember that anyone, and I mean anyone, can die by suicide. "(less) -
Answered Undecided
it seems as if black women have higher self esteem. I am white but I am not suicidal. I have situational low self esteem. Maybe white women bottle-up emotion more and black women just let it all out? it also might have to do with income levels???http://www.celluloid...
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You're very right. Most of us who have had a strong mother and/ or supportive family members tend to be stronger and have higher self esteem. And the downside to having high self esteem is that when something bad happens---we vent--instead of holding it in, thus earning us the nom de guerre "angry black woman."
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Answered Yes
Yes, as a Black woman I can honestly say that I'm not suicidal... I'm not going to kill me. However I have been on the homicidal side on several occasions and thought about killing some other folks.