Citation

Joe S, Marcus SC, Kaplan MS. Am. J. Orthopsychiatry 2007; 77(1): 124-130.

Affiliation

School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, US. sjoe@umich.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, American Orthopsychiatric Association, Publisher Wiley Blackwell)

DOI

10.1037/0002-9432.77.1.124

PMID

17352593

PMCID

PMC2754159

Abstract

Focusing on the reported growing use of firearms to complete suicide among African Americans, this article analyzes the 1993 National Mortality Followback Survey to examine the association of firearm suicide with race, education, geographic region, access to a firearm, depressive symptoms, and mental health service utilization on decedents aged 15 years and older. After controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and clinical variables, the analysis indicates that African American men were twice as likely as White men to use a firearm to complete suicide. The findings suggest the importance for clinicians to screen for the presence of firearms in depressed African Americans and to reduce their access to firearms. In addition, clinicians, social workers, and public health professionals should consider racial differences in correlates of firearm suicide when designing prevention and intervention initiatives.

Language: en