Asian Pacific Islander Americans' and White Americans' Suicide Methods

This study investigated Asian Pacific Islander Americans' (APIAs) and White Americans' use of three common suicide methods-firearm, poisoning, and hanging-using data from the National Violent Death Reporting System in the United States. Overall, hanging was the most common suicide method among APIAs, whereas firearm suicides were most prevalent among White Americans. APIA suicide decedents died by firearms and poisoning at lower rates, but by hanging at a higher rate than White Americans, after controlling for the effects of gender and age. Several gender by race moderation effects demonstrated that these racial differences in suicide methods were stronger among women than among men. In parallel with the findings on racial differences, APIA immigrants had a lower rate of firearm suicide but a higher rate of suicide by hanging than their U.S.-born counterparts. A gender by nativity moderation effect showed that among APIA men, immigrant decedents had a greater likelihood of using hanging as a suicide method than U.S.-born decedents, whereas among APIA women, there were no differences between immigrant and U.S.-born decedents in their likelihood of suicide by hanging. The researchers also uncovered several age by race and age by nativity moderation effects. These findings underscore the value of attending to within-group diversity in APIAs' suicide methods.