A recent study led by Dr. Williams has explored the potential impact of state-level structural racism on the risk of suicide attempts among adolescents in the United States, focusing on differences across race and ethnicity. The research utilized data from multiple sources, including the Youth Risk Behavior Surveys from 2011 to 2019, the 2019 American Community Survey, and a Structural Racism Index (SRI) that measures racial inequities between Black-White (B-W) and Hispanic-White (H-W) populations across various domains.
The study aimed to determine if there is an association between structural racism at the state level and rates of suicide ideation (SI) and suicide attempts (SA) among non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White adolescents. The analysis employed generalized estimating equations to assess these associations while considering race/ethnicity as a moderating factor.
Results indicated negative associations between B-W SRI with SI ("Adj. b [95% CI] = -0.011 [-0.017, -0.003], p = .004") and SA ("-0.011[-0.018, -0.004], p = .002"), as well as H-W SRI with SI ("-0.008 [-0.016, -0.0002], p = .044") and SA ("-0.011 [-0.018, -0.004], p = .001"). These findings were significantly influenced by race and ethnicity for both B-W SRI and H-W SRI.
The study found that Black ("SI= –0.011 [-0.02, -0.002]; SA= -0.011 [-0.019, -0.004]") and Hispanic adolescents ("SI = -0.097 [-0.011,-0.004]; SA = -0.011 [-0.018, -0.004]") living in states with higher levels of structural racism had lower rates of past-year SI and SA compared to their White counterparts.
Exploratory analyses also revealed a negative association between residential segregation indices with past-year SI and SA among Black and Hispanic adolescents but identified a positive association between B-W incarceration index with past-year SA among Black adolescents.
Overall, this research suggests that adolescents residing in states with higher structural racism indices are at lower risk for past-year SI and SA than those in states with lower indices; however, these effects vary across different racial groups.
The findings highlight the importance of addressing institutional markers of racism to enhance youth suicide prevention strategies' cultural responsiveness.
