ISR program: Self-destructiveness among young urban Black men

Updated 9:30 AM January 10, 2007

ISR program: Self-destructiveness among young urban Black men

By Diane Swanbrow
News Service

Phil Bowman, director of the U-M National Center for Institutional Diversity, returns to the Institute for Social Research (ISR), where he began his professional career, to chair the Communities at Risk symposium in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 15.

Among the panelists are The Ohio State University sociologist Ruth Peterson and two U-M scholars, Alford Young Jr. and Sean Joe. Young and Joe will discuss their research on a segment of the Black population that is at especially high risk: young, poor, urban African American males.

"There are many signs of the stress young Blacks are under, particularly younger Black males," says Joe, an assistant professor at the School of Social Work and at the Psychiatry Department in the Medical School. "Their homicide, incarceration and substance abuse rates are among the highest in the nation, and are also a clear sign of self-destructiveness."

Joe recently published an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association detailing new findings on suicide rates among Black Americans. The analysis, based on data from the National Study of American Life, led by ISR Director James Jackson, provides the first detailed look at differences within the U.S. Black community, including a nationally representative sample of Afro-Caribbean Blacks. Previous studies had suggested that suicide rates were significantly lower among U.S. Blacks than among U.S. whites, but Joe and colleagues found the rates are actually comparable.

"Racial disparities in suicide rates are decreasing, and it isn't because fewer whites are killing themselves," he notes. Younger black males and Afro-Caribbeans were the most likely members of the Black community to attempt suicide or to report that they had considered committing suicide.

"I'm deeply concerned about what is going on within our communities that is contributing to higher than anticipated levels of self-destructive behavior," says Joe. "We need to pay close attention to how young Blacks are making the transition from childhood to young adulthood. But until now, we've been hampered by the lack of race-specific data on these issues."

While Joe's research on the topic is quantitative, Young uses qualitative research to address how young Black males are making their way through life. His book, "The Mind of Marginalized Black Men: Making Sense of Mobility, Opportunity, and Future Life Chances," explores how 26 poverty-stricken African American men from Chicago view their prospects for getting ahead.

"Both Al and I are concerned about the issue of agency," Joe says. "We're interested in the extent to which young Black males believe they have much control over what happens to them."

ISR program: Self-destructiveness among young urban Black men

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