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Medical Resources, Suicide, and Homicide Among Native Americans

NCJ Number
141056
Journal
Corrective and Social Psychiatry and Journal of Behavior Technology Methods and Therapy Volume: 37 Issue: 3 Dated: (July 1991) Pages: 38
Author(s)
T J Young
Date Published
1991
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This study found strong positive correlations for the number of available hospital beds per 100,000 population and suicide and homicide rates among U.S. Indian Health Service (IHS) areas.
Abstract
Unpublished data on the number of hospital beds available per 100,000 population in 1975 were obtained from the IHS for all IHS areas providing inpatient and outpatient care. Suicide and homicide rates per 100,000 for 1974-1976 were also obtained from the IHS for each service area. Since there were 50 percent fewer hospital beds for IHS areas than for the United States as a whole, it appeared that medical resources were less available for Native Americans than for the general population. At the same time, the suicide rate was 105 percent greater for IHS areas than for the United States, and the homicide rate was 172 percent greater. IHS areas with a relatively high or low number of hospital beds per 100,000 population also tended to have relatively high or low suicide and homicide rates. The findings do not provide a cross-cultural replication of previous research showing negative correlations for medical resources and homicide rates in the general population. More research is needed on the differential distribution of suicide and homicide rates among IHS areas. 1 table

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