The Relationship between Culture and Suicide: An Analysis of African Americans

Abstract

Traditional explanations of suicide, such as economic strain, are often unable to explain the low incidence of suicide among African Americans. Recent qualitative work has suggested, however, that African American cultural definitions of suicide, derived from religion, may explain the low suicide risk among African Americans. The present paper analyzes quantitative, national survey data to address this issue. The results of a multiple regression analysis show that only one indicator of religiosity (church attendance) significantly lowers suicide acceptability for both Black men and Black women. Further, religiosity is not the most important correlate of Black suicide acceptability. The strongest correlates are western residence for Black men and education level for Black women. A parallel analysis for Whites finds that religiosity is the most important correlate of suicide acceptability for both White men and White women. The importance of the Black church in explaining low Black suicide acceptability may have been overestimated in previous research.