Communal and Familial Ties

This paper reports the findings of a national study of Black suicide. The main purpose of the analysis is to suggest a suitable explanation for the increasing suicide rate among young Blacks. I examined the possibility of a link between a weakening of communal and family ties and Black suicide, focusing on the "isolating effect" of inmigration and living alone. These variables were viewed as limiting access to stable, positive functioning relations within the Black community, which have traditionally served as a buffer against suicide. In addition, I attempted to ascertain the relationship between Black suicide and an indicator of social class status (educational level). An enalysis of the states with the largest Black population showed both inmigration and educational level to be strongly related to Black suicide. But the relationship between Black suicide and living alone was uniformly weak. Even when the" proportion of the Black population ages 20-34 was included in the model, I found that this variable is not significantly related to Black suicide. I concluded that a link between a weakening of social relations (via alienation from traditional communal and familial ties) and Black suicide is conceptually and empirically