Content area
Full Text
The American Community Survey (2011) estimated that 5.1 million American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) live in the USA, comprising approximately 1.6 percent of the US population. According to Census reports, within this population, there are 566 federally recognized tribes who speak over 220 indigenous languages with various dialects. This abundant heterogeneity within the AI/AN population contradicts common misperceptions of homogeneity across Native American communities, thus making generalizations problematic (Gone, 2003; 2004b). Accordingly, the cultural heterogeneity of AI/ANs should remain at the forefront of developing suicide prevention programs (Gone, 2004a), as well as in identifying risk factors for suicide.
Research has shown AI/ANs have suicide rates surpassing all other ethnic groups in the USA (Indian Health Services, 2000; Wallace et al. , 1996). The report of the US Commission on Civil Rights (2003) states that the suicide rate for AIs continues to escalate and is 190 percent of the rate of suicide within the general population. The greatest increases in suicide rates by racial/ethnic group from 1999 to 2010 were observed for AI/ANs, with a 65.2 percent increase from 11.2 to 18.5/100,000 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2013). Within AI/ANs, the suicide rate by gender increased by 81.4 percent from 5.7 to 10.3/100,000 for women, and the rate for men increased by 59.5 percent from 17.0 to 27.2/100,000 from 1999 to 2010 (CDC, 2013). For AI/AN adolescents and young adults in particular, suicide is the second leading cause of death for those between the ages of 15 and 34 years (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention, Control, 2010). Moreover, the suicide rate among AI/AN young adults aged 15-34 years is 2.5 times higher than the national average for this same age group (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention, Control, 2010). These statistics illustrate the alarming suicide rates for AI/AN populations and the increasing importance for developing a greater understanding into the causes and correlates of suicide for these peoples.
Research has indicated that both rates of suicidal thinking and rates of death by suicide continue to increase for AI/AN adolescents and young adults (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 2012; CDC, 2013). Previous studies have shown that AI/AN youth exhibit more severe problems...