Suicide Attempts 1

Running Head: Suicide Attempts of the Respondents

Research on the Suicide Attempts of the Respondents Controlling for R’s Race

Kevan Dunlop

SOWK300 01

J. McArthur

March 30, 2010

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Abstract

Divorced respondents are more likely to have more attempts of suicide. People who have not
been married may feel fifty-fifty on the subject of suicide. Black people have had a harder time is
society than White people especially in America. The injustice and cruelty that this race dealt
with in many levels due to the slave era has molded the different outlook on life then white
America. White respondents who are divorced are more likely to have more attempts of suicide
then black respondents who are divorced. The black community has been viewed in the media as
the people doing the worst in many aspects of society in the past. Maybe everybody is equal in
society.
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Hypothesis

My first hypothesis is that “Divorced respondents are more likely to have more attempts of
suicide.” The independent variable is the Martial Status of the respondents. The dependent
variable is the question asked to the respondents of during the past 12 months, how many times
did u actually attempt suicide? The values of the independent variable are broken into three
classifications of the Martial Status, which are where never been married, married, and divorced.
The values of the dependent variable is the number of times the respondents actually tried to
attempt suicide in the past 12 months broken into three groups which are 0 times, 1to 3 times,
and 4 or more times. The control variable is the race of the respondents. The values of the control
variable are broken into three classifications of race for the respondents white, black, and
Hispanic or Latino.

My second hypothesis is “White respondents who are divorced are more likely to have more
attempts of suicide then black respondents who are divorced.” The control variable will modify
the original bivariate relationship of the first hypothesis due to the new variable being measured
which is the race of the respondents. The race of the respondents narrows the field of
respondents to just the three groups which are white, black, and Hispanic or Latino where the
difference between the race’s can be measured. I believe that the control variable will affect the
bivariate relationship showing that the black respondents are less likely to comment suicide after
being divorced then white respondents who are divorced.

Rationale

The rationale for my hypothesis is that the marital status of the respondents affects the
respondent’s chances of suicide. The effects of a divorce could cause the respondent to
experience depression and a lot of other emotions that the person did not feel before the divorce.
The view in society is that when one is married there supposed to be happy and would not want
to end their life because of the emotions their death would have on the spouse. The divorce could
force the respondent to feel that there is nothing to live for and that life is over for them due to
the emotions of the situation. People who have not been married may feel fifty-fifty on the
subject of suicide. Some may be happy and content with not being married because the stress and
a lot of other variables that goes into marriage. Other respondents may be sad and depressed that
they are not married; the respondent might feel alone in the world once they reach a certain age.

The control variable of the race of the respondents is important because from the media I’ve
watched and views I’ve gathered is that white people are more prone to suicide than black
people. Black people have had a harder time is society than White people especially in America.
The injustice and cruelty that this race dealt with in many levels due to the slave era has molded
the different outlook on life then white America. With white people I believe that they are born
with a sense of entitlement in this society. The black community has been viewed in the media
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as the people doing the worst in many aspects of society in the past. Recently the playing field in
society has leveled with a black man holding the highest office in America. With society
changing the fight that black have had to be treated as equal has been reached and the black
American is experiencing the same sense of entitlement as white people. That causes more
suicide because of laziness and different views of self and self worth. The fight to live against all
odds like the slaves had has left black society some.

Table 1

During the past 12 months, how many times did

R actually attempt suicide by R’s Marital Status (%)

R’s Marital Status

Attempts Never Been Married Divorced Totals

Married

0 times 98.5 98.8 97.6 98.5

1 to 3 times 1.1 1.1 1.8 1.3

4 or more times .2 .1 .6 .2

Totals 100 100 100 100

(N) (3140) (1111) (338) (4589)

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Table 2

During the past 12 months, how many times did

R actually attempt suicide by R’s race controlling for R’s Martial Status (%)

R’s Marital Status

Attempts Never Been Married Divorced Totals

Married

Black Respondents

0 times 97.7 98.2 96.5 97.7

1 to 3 times 2.0 1.5 2.4 1.9

4 or more times .3 .4 1.2 .4

Totals 100 100 100 100

(N) (906) (272) (85) (1263)

White Respondents

0 times 98.5 98.8 97.6 99.1

1 to 3 times 1.3 1.1 1.8 .8

4 or more times .2 .1 .6 .1

Totals 100 100 100 100

(N) (1899) (760) (227) (2886)

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Discussion

After all the data was analyzed the following was gathered. The respondents that had never been
married had 98.5% answer that they have never attempted suicide which was seconded in
ranking of the respondents. The respondents that are married had 98.8% which ranked first
among the respondents who answered that they had never attempted suicide. The group of
respondents that had been divorced where the most likely to commit suicide ranking third of the
respondents who answered that they have never attempted suicide with 97.6%. That breaks
ground on my hypothesis that Divorced respondents are more likely to have more attempts of
suicide.

The group of respondents who are married had 1% answer that they have attempted suicide more
than four times which ranked third. The group of respondents who answered that they have never
been married had 2% answer that they have attempted suicide more than four times which
ranked second. The group of respondents who answered that they have are divorced had 6%
answer that they have attempted suicide more than four times which ranked first. Further baking
my rationale of my hypothesis that the divorce could force the respondent to feel that there is
nothing to live for and that life is over for them due to the emotions of the situation.

When the control variable is added the effects can be visibly seen. The black respondents that
were never married had 97.7%answer that they have never attempted suicide which is a .8%
difference from the white respondents in the same group which had 98.5%. The black
respondents that are married had 98.2% answer that they have never attempted suicide which is a
.6% difference from the white respondents in the same group which had 98.8% which was the
higher of the two. The black respondents that were divorced had 96.5% answer that they have
never attempted suicide. The white respondents that were divorced had 97.6% answer that they
have never attempted suicide. With this data of the respondents it dispels my hypothesis that
White respondents who are divorced are more likely to have more attempts of suicide then black
respondents who are divorced by a 1.1% percentage in the difference of the two races.

After all the data was analyzed I concluded the following. The numbers of people committing
suicide is higher in the black community then the white community. That is alarming because the
view of many is that black people are killing each other when now it seems that black people are
taking their own lives. With society changing the fight that black have had to be treated as equal
has been reached and the black American is experiencing the same sense of entitlement as white
people. The fight to live against all odds like the people of the slave era had has left black society
in this day and age. Maybe everybody is equal in society.
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Appendix

Crosstabs (Bivariate)
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Crosstabs (Multivariate)
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Syntax File
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Errors (Recode)