Psychological Reports, 1992, 71, 618
O Psychological Reports 1992
DEPRESSION AND SUICIDAL IDEATION IN AFRICANAMERICAN AND HISPANIC AMERICAN H I G H SCHOOL STUDENTS ' DAVID LESTER AND DENISE ANDERSON
Center for the Study of Suicide Summary.-21 Hispanic American students in an urban New Jersey high school obtained higher depression and suicidal ideation scores than 42 African-American students. Since it has been noted that Hispanic Americans have relatively higher suicide rates than African-Americans (Lester, 19921, the present study was undertaken to explore self-reported depression and suicidal ideation among Hispanic American and African-American high school students. High school students in classes at an urban high school with predominantly AfricanAmerican and Hispanic students were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961) and the hopelessness scale (Beck, Weissman, Lester, & Trexler, 1974). Of these students 42 were African-American and 21 Hispanic; the 22 boys and 41 girls had a mean age of 16.6 yr. and a standard deviation of 1.2. As expected the Hispanic students obtained significantly higher scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (means of 12.7 versus 7.9, standard deviations of 12.6 and 6.5, I,, = 1.97, p = 0 05). The Hispanic students were more likely to have serious suicidal ideation (19% versus 2%, Fisher exact test, p = 0.05), but the two groups did not differ on hopelessness scores (t = 0 89) although the Hispanic students obtained a higher mean. Ethnicity (African-American versus Hispanic) was not associated with age, sex, how often the students reported drinking alcohol or using drugs, or the frequency with which they reported h e i r parents drinking alcohol or using drugs. The Hispanic students, however, were = 4.67, p
O Psychological Reports 1992
DEPRESSION AND SUICIDAL IDEATION IN AFRICANAMERICAN AND HISPANIC AMERICAN H I G H SCHOOL STUDENTS ' DAVID LESTER AND DENISE ANDERSON
Center for the Study of Suicide Summary.-21 Hispanic American students in an urban New Jersey high school obtained higher depression and suicidal ideation scores than 42 African-American students. Since it has been noted that Hispanic Americans have relatively higher suicide rates than African-Americans (Lester, 19921, the present study was undertaken to explore self-reported depression and suicidal ideation among Hispanic American and African-American high school students. High school students in classes at an urban high school with predominantly AfricanAmerican and Hispanic students were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961) and the hopelessness scale (Beck, Weissman, Lester, & Trexler, 1974). Of these students 42 were African-American and 21 Hispanic; the 22 boys and 41 girls had a mean age of 16.6 yr. and a standard deviation of 1.2. As expected the Hispanic students obtained significantly higher scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (means of 12.7 versus 7.9, standard deviations of 12.6 and 6.5, I,, = 1.97, p = 0 05). The Hispanic students were more likely to have serious suicidal ideation (19% versus 2%, Fisher exact test, p = 0.05), but the two groups did not differ on hopelessness scores (t = 0 89) although the Hispanic students obtained a higher mean. Ethnicity (African-American versus Hispanic) was not associated with age, sex, how often the students reported drinking alcohol or using drugs, or the frequency with which they reported h e i r parents drinking alcohol or using drugs. The Hispanic students, however, were = 4.67, p
