Citation

Joe S. Child Adolesc. Soc. Work J. 2006; 23(4): 458-471.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10560-006-0064-7

PMID

19562101

PMCID

PMC2701709

Abstract

Although homicide is the leading cause of death for African-Americans aged 15-24, suicide is silently claiming the lives of many African-American youth, males in particular. Given the disproportionate number of African-American adolescents in many of the primary human service institutions, it is important to increase social workers' understanding of the nature and trends in self-destructive behaviors of this population. This paper presents the descriptive epidemiological trend data on African-American adolescent suicide completion and parasuicidal behavior, reviews current explanatory hypotheses, highlights important risk and protective factors, and outlines several culturally-congruent practice guidelines for working with suicidal African-Americans adolescents.

Language: en