Suicide in African American Elderly

Abstract

It is extensively documented that the highest suicide rate for all groups in the United States exists among the elderly (see, for example, Conwell, 1992; McIntosh & Santos, 1986). Although suicide rates for the elderly decreased between 1950 and 1980, there have been recent increases in this age group. From 1980 through 1986, the annual suicide rate for all persons older than 65 increased by 21%. However, increases were age group-specific, the greatest increase of 38% occurring in the 65to 69-year age group (Meehan, Saltzman, & Suttin, 1991). It is also well documented that elderly White males have the highest suicide rate of all race-gender groups, and between 1980 and 1986, the suicide rate increased 23%; from 37.2 to 45.6 per 100,000. However, suicide rates for elderly African American men increased from 11.4 to 16.2, or by 42% (Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, 1989; Meehan, Saltzman, & Suttin, 1991). Based on the statistics discussed above, it is strange that the disproportionate increase in African American elderly suicide has not generated a single research initiative. Therefore, the purpose of this article is more to raise consciousness than to provide answers about African American elderly suicide, in that no empirical or conceptual works exist from which to extrapolate. One of the first questions that needs to be addressed about suicide in elderly African Americans is why this population, after so many decades of appearing to have protective functions operating against suicide, apparently lost this protection. Although there are no