Black children are twice as likely to die by suicide, Nationwide Children's study finds

Black children ages 5 to 12 are twice as likely to die by suicide as their white counterparts, a new study from Nationwide Children's Hospital shows.

Research on suicide by Black youths is extremely limited, so the study sought to identify the circumstances that arise when young Black people take their own lives.

"[W]e wanted to look specifically within Black youth only to get a clear understanding of what is happening within this population,” said Dr. Arielle Sheftall, principal investigator in the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research and the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s.

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Black girls, the study found, were more likely to experience a crisis with a boyfriend or girlfriend prior to death and died by suicide within 24 hours of an argument. Black boys were more likely to have experienced a recent legal problem and when compared with Black girls were less likely to have received prior mental health treatment, the study found.

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Younger children who died by suicide, especially those 5 to 11 years of age, were more likely than older children to have experienced family and school problems. If Black children ages 5 to 11 were diagnosed with a mental health concern, it was more likely to be attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), according to Nationwide Children's.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry also found suicide was increasing among Black girls twice as fast as in Black boys, Sheftall said in a news release.

Sheftall described the finding about suicide by Black girls as "quite concerning" and said it "signals that something is happening among our Black girls.”

To stem the increase in suicide, Sheftall said the community needs to get involved. She called on churches, community centers, summer programs, and "staples in the Black community.”

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“When implementing suicide prevention with Black youth, you have to start from ground zero," Sheftall said. "You have to figure out what the risk factors are for Black youth and then evaluate which prevention programs are beneficial or if adaptation of the prevention programs are needed."

The Nationwide Children's study comes as the number of Ohio children dying by suicide has increased in recent years, data from the Ohio Department of Health's mortality database shows.

In kids ages 10 to 14, there were six suicides reported in 2010, the lowest point in the 15 years of data published online by the state health department. In 2019, 31 children ages 10 to 14 died by suicide, the most reported in any year since 2007.

The trend led Gov. Mike DeWine and others in 2020 to call for new accreditation standards for behavioral health care providers and expanded education and awareness so more Ohioans are able to recognize the early warning signs of suicide.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a behavioral health crisis, you can reach Ohio’s 24/7 Crisis Text Line by texting 4HOPE to 741741, or call the Franklin County Suicide Prevention Hotline at 614-221-5445; the Teen Suicide Prevention Hotline at 614-294-3300; or the national Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255/TALK (1-888-628-9454 for Spanish speakers).

mfilby@dispatch.com

@MaxFilby