NCJ Number
213838
Journal
Social Forces Volume: 84 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2006 Pages: 1559-1579
Date Published
March 2006
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study explored the impact of concentrated disadvantage on suicide among young Black males across United States cities between 1998 and 2001.
Abstract
Overall the findings confirmed that the deindustrialization thesis could be useful for explaining city-level variations in suicide among young Black males. Specifically, results indicated that concentrated disadvantage significantly increased suicide among young Black males. Further, while the results confirmed the influence of concentrated disadvantage, incorporating economic and educational disadvantage as well as family disruption, on suicide among young Black males, racial inequality in itself was not significantly related to suicide. An interesting finding was that the macro-level covariates of suicide rates, such as industrial composition, were virtually the same for young Black and White men. Data were drawn from the 1998-2001 Mortality Multiple Cause-of-Death Records and the 2000 census. Variables under examination included suicide, racial segregation, measures of concentrated disadvantage, measures of racial inequality, measures of White disadvantage, total population size, and region of the country. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and binomial regression models. Future research should focus on an examination of the dynamic relationship between industrial composition, disadvantage, and suicide preferably through a time series analysis. Tables, notes, references