Cultural identification and attempted suicide in native Hawaiian adolescents

Objective: To determine rates of lifetime suicide attempts in a community s ample of Native Hawaiian adolescents and determine the contribution of Hawa iian cultural affiliation, socioeconomic status, and psychiatric symptoms a s risk factors for suicide. Method: High school students were surveyed in t he state of Hawaii for lifetime suicide attempts, Hawaiian cultural affilia tion, socioeconomic status, and symptoms of depression, substance abuse, ag gression, and anxiety. Multiple logistic regressions were used on 3,094 sub jects to develop prediction models for lifetime suicide attempts. Results: Native Hawaiian adolescents had significantly higher rates of suicide attem pts (12.9%) than other adolescents in Hawaii (9.6%). Hawaiian cultural affi liation rather than ethnicity was uniquely predictive of suicide attempts. Logistic regression indicated that depression, substance abuse, grade level , Hawaiian cultural affiliation, and main wage earner's education best pred icted suicide attempts in Native Hawaiian adolescents, while depression, su bstance abuse, and aggression predicted suicide attempts in non-Hawaiians. Conclusions: Native Hawaiian adolescents have higher rates of attempted sui cide than non-Hawaiian adolescents. Strong Hawaiian cultural affiliation ra ther than ethnicity is a risk factor for attempted suicide.