Black suicide in US metropolitan areas: An examination of the racial inequality and social integration-regulation hypotheses

In addition to examining the social integration-regulation suicide thesis, we develop and test a racial inequality suicide thesis to explain how socioeconomic status inequities between blacks and whites influence suicide risk among black males. Negative binomial regression techniques are employed to model black male suicide counts for U.S. metropolitan areas in 1980. Our findings demonstrate that the risk of black male suicide is higher in areas where occupational and income inequalities between blacks and whites are greater. We also find detrimental effects associated with marital disruption and certain types of family living arrangements. In light of our findings, we revisit our theory and make suggestions for additional research.