Durham's Latino students at higher suicide risk, study says
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By: Erik Rust, Staff Writer
Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: State & National
After a Durham County study found that Latino students are twice as likely to attempt suicide as black and white students, local school officials say they haven't noticed such a trend in the Orange County area.
The study anonymously polled 392 high school students in Durham County and found that 32 percent of Latino students responding had attempted suicide in the past year.
Black and white students reported a 15 percent rate of suicide attempts, the survey found.
The study is part of the annual Community Health Assessment report released by the Durham County Public Health Department.
Public Information Officer Mike Gilbert of Orange County Schools said he had not heard of the study nor noticed any similar trends in Orange County.
Jeffrey Reilly, coordinator of exceptional education and student services at Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said in an e-mail that he did not have statistics on suicide attempts in the district.
But Brian Letourneau, director of the Durham County Public Health Department, said the study already has had a big impact.
"The medical community has been more heightened and is more on the lookout for signs of depression and suicidal tendencies," he said.
"Teachers and social workers are going to be more on the alert."
However, Letourneau cautioned that there is no medical data to support the study.
"The important thing about this study is that it is self-reported attempts; the survey does not correlate with any medical data," Letourneau said.
"It does raise a red flag and needs to be addressed as a community issue."
The North Carolina Youth Risk Behavior Survey, an annual study of N.C. high school students, also confirmed a higher attempted suicide rate among Latinos in 2007.
That survey found that the rate among Latino students was 18.3 percent, while rates among white and black students were 12.5 and 12.6 percent, respectively.
Letourneau cited the effects of isolation and disenfranchisement on immigrant families as likely reasons for the higher rates among Latino high school students.
Immigration has become a buzzword with the approach of the presidential election, leading to an upswing of anti-immigrant sentiment, he added.
"We definitely don't want to see a study like this come out, but we know what to look for and can do something about it," Letourneau said.
"This is not a short-term issue."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
The study anonymously polled 392 high school students in Durham County and found that 32 percent of Latino students responding had attempted suicide in the past year.
Black and white students reported a 15 percent rate of suicide attempts, the survey found.
The study is part of the annual Community Health Assessment report released by the Durham County Public Health Department.
Public Information Officer Mike Gilbert of Orange County Schools said he had not heard of the study nor noticed any similar trends in Orange County.
Jeffrey Reilly, coordinator of exceptional education and student services at Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said in an e-mail that he did not have statistics on suicide attempts in the district.
But Brian Letourneau, director of the Durham County Public Health Department, said the study already has had a big impact.
"The medical community has been more heightened and is more on the lookout for signs of depression and suicidal tendencies," he said.
"Teachers and social workers are going to be more on the alert."
However, Letourneau cautioned that there is no medical data to support the study.
"The important thing about this study is that it is self-reported attempts; the survey does not correlate with any medical data," Letourneau said.
"It does raise a red flag and needs to be addressed as a community issue."
The North Carolina Youth Risk Behavior Survey, an annual study of N.C. high school students, also confirmed a higher attempted suicide rate among Latinos in 2007.
That survey found that the rate among Latino students was 18.3 percent, while rates among white and black students were 12.5 and 12.6 percent, respectively.
Letourneau cited the effects of isolation and disenfranchisement on immigrant families as likely reasons for the higher rates among Latino high school students.
Immigration has become a buzzword with the approach of the presidential election, leading to an upswing of anti-immigrant sentiment, he added.
"We definitely don't want to see a study like this come out, but we know what to look for and can do something about it," Letourneau said.
"This is not a short-term issue."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
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