Black Suicide Survey Finds Faith Keeps Rate Low

July 12, 2002

African-Americans suffer higher rates than whites of almost every disease and cause of death. Except one: suicide.

New research shows that support from friends, family and faith provides a powerful buffer against suicide in the black community, especially among those 65 and older, the age group with the highest suicide rate in the nation.

"One of the most exciting things about this study is that there are protective factors like religious faith and social support," said Joan Cook, lead author of the study and a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

According to the latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide rates among senior citizens are highest for those who are divorced or widowed. For that age group, the rate of suicide among white men is nearly three times greater than for African American men, and almost seven times more than for white women.

Beulah Otey, 74, of North Philadelphia, was in a Bible study class at the Lehigh Senior Center when her husband died a few years ago. After his death, she said, she continued to rely on the Bible and her Christian faith to sustain her.

"I never let go of my religion," she said. "I kept the faith."

In many ways, she is emblematic of the respondents in Cook's latest research.

The study, published in the July-August issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, found that older African Americans who have religious and spiritual beliefs and support from family and the community are much less inclined to attempt suicide. Continued on page 2: »