Posted on April 5, 2016

Race and Suicide: Shifting Trends

Robert VerBruggen, Real Clear Policy, April 5, 2016

{snip}

{snip} If groups that commit more homicide (when they’re young) also commit less suicide (when they’re old), we still have a phenomenon here that’s worth trying to understand.

But regardless, the empirical claims sounded completely unbelievable to me, given what I knew about suicide data. So I checked more current numbers from the CDC. What is true is that very young blacks–those 12 and under–may have higher suicide rates than non-Hispanic whites, though suicide is extremely rare at that age for everyone. Beyond that, a gap opens up in the opposite direction.

Rates

{snip}