Prevalence of Suicidal Ideation and Suicide Attempts by Race and Gender in Three Large U.S. Adolescent Cohorts.

Abstract

There is a burgeoning crisis of suicide beleaguering Black youth, and particularly Black girls, in the U.S. Despite this, few studies have dually investigated racial and gender health disparities in adolescent suicidality (ideation and attempt). In this study, we sought to characterize rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts amongst Black and White youth—spanning from early to late adolescence—in three large independent U.S. cohorts. Our analyses revealed that across all three cohorts, despite differences in age and ascertainment methods, Black girls experienced the highest rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in comparison to Black boys, White girls, and White boys. As Black girls have been historically underserved by the psychiatric field, it is of critical importance that clinicians be attentive to these emergent trends. Further research is needed to discern the structural barriers and mechanisms that confer risk to this population and to inform suicide prevention efforts.