As U.S. suicides rates rise, Hispanics show relative immunity

Sarai’s sister now provides an important sounding board, such as when Sarai said she was tempted to cut herself again. “I ended up calling my sister. And we talked ’til probably 3 in the morning,” Sarai recalled. The inclination to hurt herself “completely went away.”

Cynthia Rodriguez, who has been Sarai’s counselor, said she encouraged the teen to not hide her emotional struggles, including from her close friends, “to take advantage of that support.”

Sarai eventually told a few friends that she used to cut herself. “They became like my little second family,” she said.

As a group, Latinos face obstacles that can affect their health and well-being: They earn less than non-Hispanic whites, and are more likely to lack health insurance coverage. In 2017, 16.1 percent of Hispanics were uninsured, compared with 6.3 percent of non-Hispanic whites, hampering access to mental health care and other treatment. In addition, Latino immigrants contend with the challenges of moving to a new country, sometimes after leaving violence and other traumatic conditions at home.

But the practice of “colectivismo,” the building of a latticework of relationships through extended family, work colleagues and friends, is prevalent in the Latino community and can help provide an emotional safety net, said Luis Garcia, who has developed suicide prevention programs for Latino youth in California. Even activities such as regular church picnics or salsa dancing can be beneficial, said Garcia, vice president of cultural diversity at Arcadia, Calif.-based Pacific Clinics.

“Latinos or Hispanics have a preference to work in groups,” Garcia said. “It’s something that, believe me, we practice on a daily basis.”

To be sure, Latinos are a multifaceted population from numerous countries who shouldn’t be viewed through a single lens or set of assumptions, Garcia and other researchers stressed.

Still, when immigrant families assimilate and ties to Latino culture fray, so do the protective effects, according to a study published in 2014 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Researchers, who analyzed suicidal thoughts and attempts, found that those inclinations increased as Latinos spent more years in the U.S. and started losing their fluency in Spanish and connections to Latino social networks and identity.

In addition, Latino youth also appear more vulnerable to suicide attempts than white teens. In 2017, 8.2 percent of Hispanic high school students attempted suicide compared with 6.1 percent of whites and 9.8 percent of blacks, according to federal data.

And in California, psychiatric hospitalizations of Latino children and young adults have risen dramatically in recent years, according to state statistics. It’s not clear what’s driving that trend, but some policymakers and Latino community leaders say it reflects a lack of culturally appropriate mental health services for Latinos and a pervasive stigma that prevents many from seeking help before a crisis hits.

Still, the higher rate of suicide attempts by Latino teens has not resulted in a corresponding increase in suicide deaths among Latinos, also for reasons that are unclear, said Luis Zayas, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and author of the book “Latinas Attempting Suicide: When Cultures, Families and Daughters Collide.”