A Social-Ecological Model of Black Adolescent Suicide Morbidity

Authors

Scherrayn Phillip-GarciaFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

Social Welfare

First Advisor's Name

Mark Macgowan, PhD.

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Tan LI, PhD.

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Third Advisor's Name

Mario R. De La Rosa, PhD.

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Nicole Fava, PhD.

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Keywords

socialecological model, black adolescents, African American, suicidality, risk factors, suicide, suicide attempt, a suicide plan, injurious suicide attempts

Date of Defense

3-29-2023

Abstract

Black adolescent suicide is on the rise and is a public health problem that requires effective, comprehensive strategies to mitigate the issue. Suicide is a multifaceted problem that requires a social-ecological approach to identifying the risk of suicidality among adolescents to ameliorate the issue (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). Several surveillance systems identify trends of black suicide morbidity, and several research studies identified predictors of suicidality among black adolescents. However, the body of evidence lacks a comprehensive examination of the interplay between adolescents’ individual-level factors and the factors of their environment on suicide-related behaviors. The gap in research disallows black adolescents’ family members, practitioners, community organizations, and policymakers to address the issue effectively. This dissertation adds to the body of black adolescent suicide literature by developing and evaluating a social-ecological model of suicide morbidity for black adolescents in the US. To configure the model, this study used black adolescents’ risk behavior data from the high school Youth Risk Behavior Survey administered in 2015 ix and the racial equity index data from the National Equity Atlas database. The direct effects of individual, relational, communal, and societal-level risk factors on suicidality were analyzed through structural equation modeling techniques. The model yielded an acceptable level of fit to the data. Black adolescents who self-identified as sexual minorities, experienced sadness and hopelessness, experienced interpersonal violence, engaged in substance use, and experienced bullying were at-risk for increased suicidality. A multi-group analysis was conducted to test whether age and gender moderated the black adolescent risk model of suicidality. The model was moderated by both age and gender and was tested over time, consistently yielding acceptable goodness-of-fit for survey years 2015, 2017, and 2019 data. Future research into black adolescents’ suicidality should assess more expansive models that include more societal, community, and protective factors of black adolescent suicidality to guide the culturally appropriate social work response to black adolescent suicidality.

Identifier

FIDC011082

Recommended Citation

Phillip-Garcia, Scherrayn, "A Social-Ecological Model of Black Adolescent Suicide Morbidity" (2023). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5250.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5250