Suicide among Black Children: An Integrated Model of the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide and Intersectionality Theory for Researchers and Clinicians

“…affect individuals and families, and lead to barriers to forming healthy relationships and producing negative outcomes (Intersectionality theory; Crenshaw, 1991) and another theory that explores the motivating factors that can lead to death by suicide (the InterpersonalPsychological Theory of…”

“Bowleg (2012) posited that the difficulties researchers have in using intersectionality theory is its inability to “test” the theory on a specific population.”

“A final example of how this can be amplified by belonging to intersecting identities is the increased risk of suicide among LGBTQ Black youth (Bostwick et al., 2014; Kann et al., 2018; Settler & Katz, 2017).”

“Masked anger reveals a deeper layer of identifying depression in Black children because symptoms that are typically associated with depression in children from other racial backgrounds are not as easily identifiable in Black children (McLaughlin et al., 2007).”

“Dawson (1994) hypothesizes that the fate of a Black individual is intuitively linked with the fate of the Black community as a whole.”

“, 2017) though the strength of this support has been challenged as well (Ma et al., 2016).”

“…studies that have acknowledged the recent trend, have consistently provided support for acknowledging mental health outcomes as being the top risk factor for suicide ideation, suicidal behavior, and death by suicide among Black children (Bridge et al., 2018; Lindsey et al., 2019; Switzer, 2019).”

“A final example of how this can be amplified by belonging to intersecting identities is the increased risk of suicide among LGBTQ Black youth (Bostwick et al., 2014; Kann et al., 2018; Settler & Katz, 2017).”

“Few studies that have solely examined differences between Black LGBTQ youth and White LGBTQ youth found that Black LGBTQ youth were at elevated risk for death by suicide and suicidal thoughts compared to their counterparts and White LGBTQ youth (Cochran et al., 2007; Meyer et al., 2008).”

“Few studies that have solely examined differences between Black LGBTQ youth and White LGBTQ youth found that Black LGBTQ youth were at elevated risk for death by suicide and suicidal thoughts compared to their counterparts and White LGBTQ youth (Cochran et al., 2007; Meyer et al., 2008).”

“One significant factor contributing to the onset of depressive symptoms and suicide is the experience of racial discrimination (Lanier et al., 2017; Seaton et al., 2010).”

“However, other smaller studies have demonstrated that multiple factors including increased internalized homophobia and increased religious context of upbringing (Gibbs & Goldbach, 2015), increased rates of victimization (bullying and sexual abuse), and increased rates of depression (Lardier et al., 2017; Mereish et al…”

“Within the school context, school officials such as resource officers and security guards have been found to exert more force against Black children and arrest them at higher rates—contributing significantly to the school to prison pipeline theory (Mallett, 2017; Merkwae, 2015).”

“Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth (LGBTQ) are twice as likely to report suicidal ideation and to attempt suicide than their heterosexual counterparts (Gomez et al., 2011; Grossman & D’Augelli, 2007; King et al., 2008; Stone et al., 2014).”

“There is emerging evidence that shows the association between racial discrimination, stress and trauma which results in poor mental health outcomes among Black youth (Hope et al., 2015; Keels et al., 2017; Metzger et al., 2017, 2018).”

“Despite the need for effective mental health treatment for Black children, access to mental health services are limited as these services are often inaccessible or unavailable in neighborhoods where Black children are most likely to reside in (Barksdale et al., 2010; Murry et al., 2011).”

“solutions to their mental health issues rather than going to a trained mental health professional (Lindsey et al., 2013).”

“Schools with high-minority populations, are less likely to have mental health clinicians available for students due to budget cuts, high student populations, and being overworked (Farahmand et al., 2011).”

“English et al. (2014) found that racial discrimination was associated with participation in delinquency and suicide ideation among Black children.”

“Keels et al. (2017) found in their longitudinal study that among Black youth whom experienced microaggressions in high school, continue to experience greater depressive symptoms at the start of college.”

“Difficulties managing mental health has been consistently shown to contribute to suicidal thoughts and behaviors (Brailovskaia et al., 2018; Phillips, 2010).”

“Specifically, for Black children, early and late adolescents, exposure to violence has been linked to greater post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depressive symptoms (Davis & Stevenson, 2006).”

“One of the few studies to examine the relationship between racial/ethnic discrimination and suicidal behavior among Black youth found a significant association across both boys and girls (Assari et al., 2018).”

“Difficulties managing mental health has been consistently shown to contribute to suicidal thoughts and behaviors (Brailovskaia et al., 2018; Phillips, 2010).”

“Recent work has criticized modern theories of suicide for their focus on individual psychology and the dismissal of many factors that influence suicide externally as opposed to internally (Standley, 2020; Hjelmeland & Knizek, 2020; Abrutyn & Mueller, 2019).”

“One significant factor contributing to the onset of depressive symptoms and suicide is the experience of racial discrimination (Lanier et al., 2017; Seaton et al., 2010).”

“Race-related trauma stress has been conceptualized in the literature to be one of the leading causes for mental health symptoms among Black youth (Henderson et al., 2019).”

“Another study, found similar results, indicating that Black male middle school students experienced racial discrimination and higher suicidal ideation than Black female students although Black female middle childhood students had higher rates of depressive symptoms in the study (Lambert et al., 2009).”

“This finding reveals that traumatic stress through racial discrimination may be a pathway for increased risk for psychopathology, including suicidal behavior (Polanco-Roman et al., 2019).”

“Despite the need for effective mental health treatment for Black children, access to mental health services are limited as these services are often inaccessible or unavailable in neighborhoods where Black children are most likely to reside in (Barksdale et al., 2010; Murry et al., 2011).”

“Intersectionality theory allows researchers to understand the importance of viewing populations as having multiplicative identities (socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender identity) that contribute to their view of society and their current conditions (Collins, 2000; Opara et al., 2019).”

“There is emerging evidence that shows the association between racial discrimination, stress and trauma which results in poor mental health outcomes among Black youth (Hope et al., 2015; Keels et al., 2017; Metzger et al., 2017, 2018).”

“, 2013), higher levels of perceived discrimination (Huebner et al., 2014) and gender nonconformity—all contribute to increased rates of suicide among LGBTQ youth (Mustanski & Liu, 2013).”

“Within the school context, school officials such as resource officers and security guards have been found to exert more force against Black children and arrest them at higher rates—contributing significantly to the school to prison pipeline theory (Mallett, 2017; Merkwae, 2015).”

“Information about unethical medical experiments such as the Tuskegee syphilis study has been passed down through multiple generations of African American families in the United States and contribute to beliefs and mistrust of the healthcare system (Amutah-Onukagha et al., 2018).”

“In addition, lack of adult allies within this context may contribute to Black children’s low sense of worth and inability to nurture resilience among youth (Opara et al., 2020).”

“Heteronormative actions and behaviors have been believed to be the gold standard within the Black community (McGuire et al., 2017).”

“Chambers and Erausquin (2018) found that Black youth from lower socioeconomic statuses were more likely to report higher levels of racial discrimination and exhibit low levels of academic self-concept.”

“Black children’s behaviors and symptoms may be perceived as irritability and aggression as opposed to sadness and decreased energy when dealing with depressive symptoms, paranoia, or anxiety (Clarke & Mosleh, 2015).”

“In addition to poverty, research suggests that Black children residing in urban, under-resourced low-income environments often experience a greater risk of mental illness due to increased exposure to community violence, gang activity, and drug use (Cullins et al., 2019; Hastings & Snowden, 2019).”