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Public Health Institute Press Release

A new research study conducted by PHI’s Alcohol Research Group examined nine distinct Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA+NHPI) subgroups and revealed significant differences in suicidal ideation risk. The study, “Unmasking Suicide Ideation among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Adolescents through Data Disaggregation” was published in JAMA Network Open.

Findings from the study provide mental health practitioners with valuable insights for creating more targeted and effective prevention strategies and also highlight the critical need for data disaggregation — analyzing data by specific racial and ethnic groups rather than a single category — to reveal hidden risks of suicidal ideation among AA+NHPI adolescents.

Suicide is a leading cause of death among AA+NHPI adolescents, yet research often groups these populations due to small sample sizes or limited data access. This practice obscures significant and critical nuances and overlooks serious risks within AA+NHPI subgroups.

The research team examined responses gathered through the California Healthy Kids Survey from 9th and 11th graders during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years. Suicidal ideation was captured from the following survey item: “During the past 12 months, did you ever seriously consider attempting suicide?” Data were disaggregated by specific AA ethnic subgroups (Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, NHPI, Other Asian, Southeast Asian, and Vietnamese) and analyzed by single versus multiple racial and ethnic identities.

To read the entire article: https://www.phi.org/press/new-study-reveals-hidden-suicide-risk-among-asian-american-native-hawaiian-and-pacific-islander-youth/