<p>As the above link shows, this is primarily a problem with Caucasians where teens are committing suicide at far higher rate than other ethnicities (except for American Indians). This is a very worrying trend and all parents should be concerned, I think. What can parents do to lower this rate? What is going on here and what can be learned from other ethnicities?</p>
<p>The article says suicides across all ethnicity groups have been rising. This seems like a problem for everyone, not just one group (and, of course, we are all people, the individual isn’t directly affected by overarching trends).</p>
<p>It is true, it is rising across the board, but the rate for Caucasians is double that of other ethnicities. Why is that and should we do something about it? Clearly other ethnicities are doing something right.</p>
<p>Bearing in mind the need to avoid fallacies of statistical interpretation would lead to the realization that that’s exactly what we clearly cannot conclude from the different suicide proportions.</p>
<p>Programs such as school counseling (by actual psychologists) and trying to stop bullying amongst children and teens is important. It is important for all, not just one group.</p>
<p>No so much “ruthlessly,” at least not in most cases, but the “nerds” often get pushed around by the “jocks” in a lot of schools. I never saw it because the “jocks” at my school weren’t jerks and there weren’t many “nerds”. What seems much worse is girls bullying each other over appearance.</p>
<p>This past school year there were many cases in the news of gay or lesbian children/teens who were mercilessly bullied and who killed themselves.</p>
<p>So I very much agree that bullying, across the board, needs to be better addressed.</p>
<p>What needs to be put in place is a strict anti-bullying policy that swiftly kicks any kid caught bullying out of the school. My son’s school has such a policy and it is very effective.</p>
<p>With that, I am going to leave this thread, as I have decided not to aggravate the posters here anymore.</p>
<p>This looks at ethnic groups in the US only, does not talk about suicide of the same ethnic groups in their own, or other countries (if it applies). </p>
<p>And although I just skimmed the paper, I did not see a per-capita type of comparison. </p>
<p>Their own conclusion was that suicide probably has more to do with other factors then ethnic group, and that the key is learning to manage each group with cultural sensitivity.
(Note Indian Parent- this is where those special classes for doctors come in to help them develop a RELATIONSHIP with their patients and COMMUNICATE better with patients with different cultural beliefs-not tell their parents they are wrong and should be more like another ethnic group…hint hint).</p>
<p>From the paper:
It is difficult to identify effects from culture specifically versus effects from more general factors like socioeconomic level, education, acculturation, and geographic location (urban vs. rural, western states vs. eastern). A deeper understanding of specific cultural values and health beliefs may be the key to disentangling this problem. Until more definitive research is available, consulting knowledgeable colleagues about how to provide culturally sensitive care is important.Addressing risk factors is the first step to decreasing suicide in minority youth. Similar risk factors across ethnicities include mood and anxiety disorders, substance abuse disorders, lower socioeconomic and educational level, access to firearms, and family stresses. There are differences in prevalence and impact of some of these risk factors and in how to address them for each ethnic group in a culturally informed way. Risk factors that differ across ethnic groups include perhaps increased risk for African American and Latino adolescents from single parent households, possibly more of an impact from parent-child conflicts for Asian American and Native American adolescents, likely greater impact of poor school performance for Asian American adolescents, and perhaps a greater impact of friend suicide for Native American adolescents.</p>