Date of Award

12-2022

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Susan M. Carlson, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Barry Goetz, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Gregory Howard, Ph.D.

Keywords

Black women, gender, inequality, intersectionality, race, suicide paradox

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

Sociological studies have examined suicide rate differences between groups since the work of Durkheim in 1897, and current literature still draws on his classic theories and methods. Although research has begun identifying the social factors that affect the suicides of Black and White populations differentially, little progress has been made towards an understanding of Black female suicide. The present study takes an intersectional approach to Durkheim's social integration-regulation thesis to bridge this gap. Several negative binomial regression analyses were employed to model suicide counts for Black men, Black women, non-Hispanic White men, and non-Hispanic White women in the United States. Twenty-three indicators of social integration and regulation were gathered from four data sources to test a myriad of hypotheses corresponding to the distinct lived experiences of the four race/sex groups. This study identifies factors, such as residential mobility, that are significantly associated with suicide across populations, while the overall findings indicate that the sources and strength of social integration and regulation differ greatly across the populations.

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