An investigation, which examined 1,880 Asian American or Pacific Islander youth who died by suicide during their first two decades, found that the suicide rate for males increased by 72%, and by 125% for females. Suicide rates among males peaked in 2019, and for females in 2020. Suicide is the leading cause of death for Asian American and Pacific Islander youth.
The results, utilizing the National Center for Health Statistics for Asian Americans or Pacific Islander youth ages 10–19 years who died by suicide, were published in the July 25 issue of JAMA Network Open.
The study authors, Brian TaeHyuk, the Buehler Family Sesquicentennial Endowed Assistant Professor at BC’s Lynch School of Education and Human Development; Seungbin Oh, an assistant professor in the Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine Program at Boston University; and Arielle H. Sheftall, an associate professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry, surmise that economic hardship during the Great Recession, and cyberbullying with the rise of social media platforms were possible co-contributing causes.
In the U.S., Asian American individuals are the fastest growing racial group, while Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander individuals are the third fastest rising.
The authors point to mental health struggles, particularly among Pacific Islander male family leaders during the 2007–2009 recession, that may have increased the suicide risk factor for young males. Simultaneously, online sexism and racism against Asian women proliferated, which may have increased the risk factor…
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