Suicide among Native Americans has received much attention in the recent literature. These reports have primarily focused upon single, specific tribal groups. While the suicide rate for Indians as a whole is equal to or greater than that for the nation, undue emphasis upon those tribes having especially high suicide rates has created the general impression that all Indian groups have high rates. The wide variations that exist among the tribes are sometimes noted but often they are overlooked or ignored. The results of the available studies of suicide among the various Indian tribal groups are presented here along with some implications for further research.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
OgdenM.SpectorM. I.HillC. A.Jr., Suicides and Homicides Among Indians, Public Health Reports, 85, pp. 75–80, 1970.
2.
HillC. A.Jr.SpectorM. I., Natality and Mortality of American Indians Compared with U.S. Whites and Nonwhites, HSMHA Health Reports, 86, pp. 229–246, 1971.
3.
FrederickC. J., Suicide, Homicide, and Alcoholism Among American Indians: Guidelines for Help, NIMH, DHEW Publication No. (ADM) 76–42, Washington, D.C., 1975. (Formerly DHEW Publication No. (HSM) 73–9124, originally published, 1973.)
4.
FrederickC. J., Current Trends in Suicidal Behavior in the United States, American Journal of Psychotherapy, 32, pp. 172–200, 1978.
5.
MayP. A.DizmangL. H., Suicide and the American Indian, Psychiatric Annals, 4, pp. 22–23; 27–28, 1974.
6.
HavighurstR. J., The Extent and Significance of Suicide Among American Indians Today, Mental Hygiene, 55, pp. 174–177, 1971.
7.
ResnikH. L. P.DizmangL. H., Observations on Suicidal Behavior Among American Indians, American Journal of Psychiatry, 127, pp. 882–887, 1971.
8.
FuchsE.HavighurstR. J., To Live on This Earth: American Indian Education, Doubleday, New York, pp. 150–155, 1972.
9.
National Center for Health Statistics.Vital Statistics of the United States, 1973, Volume II–Mortality, Part A., U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., Section 1, pp. 176–183, 1977.
10.
National Center for Health Statistics., Vital Statistics of the United States, 1953, Volume II, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., pp. 42–49, 1955.
11.
National Center for Health Statistics., Vital Statistics of the United States, 1963, Volume II–Mortality, Part A., U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., pp. 78–85, 1965.
12.
ShoreJ. H., Psychiatric Epidemiology Among American Indians, Psychiatric Annals, 4, pp. 56–57, 61–63, 66, 1974.
13.
PasselJ. S., Provisional Evaluation of the 1970 Census Count of American Indians, Demography, 13, pp. 397–409, 1976.
14.
AndressV. R., Ethnic/Racial Misidentification in Death: A Problem Which May Distort Suicide Statistics, Forensic Science, 9, pp. 179–183, 1977.
15.
ShoreJ. H., American Indian Suicide–Fact and Fantasy, Psychiatry, 38, pp. 86–91, 1975.
16.
ShoreJ. H., Suicide and Suicide Attempts Among American Indians of the Pacific Northwest, International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 18, pp. 91–96, 1972.
17.
ConradR. D.KahnM. W., An Epidemiological Study of Suicide and Suicide Attempts Among the Papago Indians, Proceedings, 81st Annual Convention, American Psychological Association, 8, Part 1, pp. 449–450, 1973.
18.
ConradR. D.KahnM. W., , An Epidemiological Study of Suicide and Attempted Suicide Among the Papago Indians, American Journal of Psychiatry, 131, pp. 69–72, 1974.
19.
MillerS. I.SchoenfeldL. S., Suicide Attempt Patterns Among the Navajo Indians, International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 17, pp. 189–193, 1971.
20.
ParkinM., Suicide and Culture in Fairbanks: A Comparison of Three Cultural Groups in a Small City of Interior Alaska, Psychiatry, 37, pp. 60–67, 1974.
21.
ResnikH. L. P.DizmangL. H., Drs. Resnik and Dizmang Reply [to Dr. Westermeyer's Letter], American Journal of Psychiatry, 128, pp. 155–156, 1971.
22.
WestermeyerJ., Disorganization: Its Role in Indian Suicide Rates [letter], American Journal of Psychiatry, 128, p. 155, 1971.
23.
LevyJ. E.KunitzS. J., Indian Reservations, Anomie, and Social Pathologies, Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 27, pp. 97–128, 1971.
24.
HrdlickaA., Physiological and Medical Observations Among the Indians of Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico, U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 34, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., pp. 171–172, 1908.
25.
EverettM.W., American Indian “Social Pathology”: A Re-examination, WilliamsT. R. (ed.), Psychological Anthropology, Mouton Publishers, Paris, pp. 249–285, 1975.
26.
WebbJ. P.WillardW., Six American Indian Patterns of Suicide, FarberowN. L. (ed.), Suicide in Different Cultures, University Park Press, Baltimore, pp. 17–33, 1975.
27.
SieversM. L.CynamonM. H.BittkerT. E., International Isoniazid Overdose Among Southwestern American Indians, American Journal of Psychiatry, 132, pp. 662–665, 1975.
28.
LevyJ. E., Navajo Suicide, Human Organization, 24, pp. 308–318, 1965.
29.
PambrunA., Suicide Among the Blackfeet Indians, Bulletin of Suicidology, 7, pp. 42–43, Fall 1970. (Note: This article was not actually written by Pambrun. It tells of her work with the Blackfeet and she is often cited as the author in the literature. No author is given for the article.)
30.
BachJ. L., New Indian War–Against Suicide, Today's Health, 48:10, pp. 16–17, 1970.
31.
KlagsbrunF., Too Young to Die: Youth and Suicide, Pocket Books, New York, pp. 136–137, 1977, (Originally published, 1976.)
32.
DizmangL. H., Suicide Among the Cheyenne Indians, Bulletin of Suicidology, 1, pp. 8–11, July 1967.
33.
LeightonA. H.HughesC. C., Notes on Eskimo Patterns of Suicide, Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 11, pp. 327–338, 1955.
34.
FentonW. N., Iroquois Suicide: A Study in the Stability of a Culture Pattern, U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 128, Anthropoligical Papers No. 14, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., pp. 79–137, 1941.
35.
DevereuxG., Mohave Ethnopsychiatry and Suicide: The Psychiatric Knowledge and the Psychic Disturbances of an Indian Tribe, U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 175, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1961.
36.
WymanL. C.ThomeB., Notes on Navaho Suicide, American Anthropologist, 47, pp. 278–288, 1945.
37.
BenedictR.Patterns of Culture, Pelican Books, New York, 1934.
38.
ShoreJ. H.BoppJ. F.WallerT. R.DawesJ. W., A Suicide Prevention Center on an Indian Reservation, American Journal of Psychiatry, 128, pp. 1086–1091, 1072.
39.
DizmangL. H.WatsonJ.MayP. A.BoppJ., Adolescent Suicide at an Indian Reservation, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 44, pp. 43–49, 1974.
40.
BynumJ., Suicide and the American Indian: An Analysis of Recent Trends. BahrH. M.ChadwickB. A.DayR. C. (eds.), Native Americans Today: Sociological Perspectives, Harper and Row, New York, pp. 367–377, 1972.
41.
MindellC.StuartP., Suicide and Self-Destructive Behavior in the Oglala Sioux: Some Clinical Aspects and Community Approaches, Suicide Among the American Indians: Two Workshops, U. S. Department HEW, Washington D.C., PHS Publication No. 1903, pp. 25–33, 1969.
42.
CurleeW. V., Suicide and Self-Destructive Behavior on the Cheyenne River Reservation, Suicide Among the American Indians: Two Workshops, U. S. Department HEW, Washington, D.C., PHS Publication No. 1903, pp. 34–37, 1969. (Reprinted in B. Q. Hafen and E. J. Faux (eds.), Self-Destructive Behavior: A National Crisis, Burgess, Minneapolis, pp. 80–84, 1972.)
43.
SchmidC. F.Van ArsdolM.D.Jr., Completed and Attempted Suicide: A Comparative Analysis, American Sociological Review, 20, pp. 273–283, 1955.
