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Acculturative Stress, Perceived Discrimination, and Vulnerability to Suicide Attempts Among Emerging Adults

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

Cultural factors are often neglected in studies of suicidal behavior among emerging adults. The present study examined acculturative stress and perceived discrimination as statistical predictors of a suicide attempt history among an ethnically diverse sample of 969 emerging adults, ages 18–25 (M = 18.8). Females made up 68% of the sample, and the racial/ethnic composition included Asian, Latino, Black, and White (US-born and non-US-born) individuals. There were no statistically significant racial/ethnic differences in endorsement of a suicide attempt history, with an overall rate of 8% in the sample. Asian participants reported higher acculturative stress than all other racial/ethnic groups, while both Asian and Black participants reported having experienced more discrimination in the previous year, compared to other groups. Logistic regression analyses suggested that familial acculturative stress was associated with 2 times higher odds of endorsing a past suicide attempt, overall. More specifically, it was associated with over 2 times higher odds among Asian participants, over 4 times higher odds among Black participants, and over 3 times higher odds among non-US-born White participants, while social acculturative stress was associated with over 3 times higher odds of endorsing a past suicide attempt among Latino participants. Environmental acculturative stress was associated with decreased odds of endorsing a suicide attempt history, overall, but not when examined separately by racial/ethnic group. Perceived discrimination was associated with over 5 times higher odds of a suicide attempt, overall, and specifically was associated with over 3 times higher odds among Latino participants and over 10 times higher odds among White, US-born participants. These findings suggest the importance of addressing culturally-related variables in treatment with emerging adults of racially/ethnically diverse backgrounds to reduce risk for suicidal behavior.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by grants from the APA Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs, the PSC-CUNY, the Hunter College Gender Equity Project, NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award # 0123609, and MBRS-RISE Grant GM 60665-08. The authors wish to thank Valerie Khait, Monique Fontes, Shirley Chan, Michelle Gallagher, Shama Goklani, Brett Marroquín, and Kai Monde for their assistance with data collection, and Randall Penfield, Ph.D. (University of Miami), J. Blake Turner, Ph.D. (Columbia University), and Alyssa Wheeler, B.A. (Hunter College) for comments on previous versions of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational and Psychological Studies, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Miami, FL, USA

    Judelysse Gomez

  2. Department of Psychology, Hunter College, The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), 695 Park Ave., Room 611HN, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Judelysse Gomez, Regina Miranda & Lillian Polanco

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  1. Judelysse Gomez
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  2. Regina Miranda
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  3. Lillian Polanco
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Correspondence to Regina Miranda.

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Primary authorship is shared equally by Judelysse Gomez and Regina Miranda.

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Gomez, J., Miranda, R. & Polanco, L. Acculturative Stress, Perceived Discrimination, and Vulnerability to Suicide Attempts Among Emerging Adults. J Youth Adolescence 40, 1465–1476 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-011-9688-9

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