Rep Group Adv Psychiatry (1984). 1989(128):1-131.
In the preceding chapters we have reviewed the available data on suicide among four major ethnic groups in the United States. In this final chapter, we wish to draw together the thematic threads observed in several of the groups we have studied. We also wish to point out thematic differences in the suicide data among the four groups studied and the possible significance of these differences. The most striking common theme that emerges from the analysis of suicide data for the four ethnic groups is the finding that suicide occurs most frequently among youth and young adults, and predominantly among young men. This is the case for Blacks, Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Mexican-Americans. The data for Japanese-Americans, showing a minor peak of suicide in young adulthood, allow some consideration of this general theme for this ethnic group as well. A notable exception is the Chinese-American group. A second major theme is the low rate of suicide among Black, Native American, Puerto Rican, and Mexican-American women, compared with males of this age group and compared with the majority population. Here, too, Chinese-American women are a dramatic exception, with peak suicide incidence occurring in older women. A third common theme is the comparatively low rate of suicide among older people in three of the four ethnic groups: Blacks, Native Americans, and Hispanics--both Puerto Ricans and Mexican-Americans. There are important differences in frequency of suicide between the majority population and the ethnic groups, but these differences are not consistent for the four ethnic groups studied. Most dramatic are the substantially higher aggregate rate of suicide among Native Americans than that which occurs among the majority population and the lower rates among Blacks, Puerto Ricans, and Mexican-Americans. The rates for Chinese- and Japanese-Americans are lower than the national figures, but not strikingly dissimilar. It is important to highlight the notion that no explanatory theory by itself accounts in a consistent way for the differences in suicide rates between the majority, White US population and the four ethnic groups we have studied.
在前面几章中，我们回顾了美国四个主要种族群体中有关自杀的现有数据。在这最后一章中，我们希望梳理在我们研究的几个群体中观察到的主题线索。我们还希望指出所研究的四个群体自杀数据中的主题差异以及这些差异可能具有的意义。对这四个种族群体的自杀数据进行分析后出现的最显著的共同主题是，自杀在青年和年轻成年人中最为频繁，且主要发生在年轻男性中。黑人、美洲原住民、波多黎各人和墨西哥裔美国人都是如此。日裔美国人的数据显示在成年早期有一个自杀小高峰，这也使我们能够对这个种族群体的这一总体主题进行一些思考。一个显著的例外是华裔美国人。第二个主要主题是，与该年龄组的男性以及多数人口相比，黑人、美洲原住民、波多黎各人和墨西哥裔美国女性的自杀率较低。在这里，华裔美国女性也是一个明显的例外，自杀发生率在老年女性中达到峰值。第三个共同主题是，在四个种族群体中的三个群体——黑人、美洲原住民以及西班牙裔（包括波多黎各人和墨西哥裔美国人）中，老年人自杀率相对较低。多数人口与这些种族群体在自杀频率上存在重要差异，但这些差异在我们研究的四个种族群体中并不一致。最显著的是，美洲原住民的总体自杀率大幅高于多数人口，而黑人、波多黎各人和墨西哥裔美国人的自杀率较低。华裔美国人和日裔美国人的自杀率低于全国数字，但差异并不显著。重要的是要强调这样一个观念，即没有任何一种解释理论能够始终如一地解释美国多数白人人口与我们研究的四个种族群体在自杀率上的差异。
