Suicide Rates in Immigrant Groups and Their Countries of Origin: An Examination of Data from Early in the 20th Century

Lester (1972) showed the suicide rates of immigrant groups to Australia were proportional to the suicide rates in their countries of origin. The present note describes supportive evidence for this result using data from 1920. Cavan (1928) presented data on the suicide rates of immigrant groups in Chicago in 1920, and Hoffman (1928) presented rates for 11 of the countries of origin (Austria, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Scotland, and Sweden). The mean suicide rate of the 11 immigrant groups was 32.5 per 100,000 per year (SD = 15.4) and for the countries of origin 12.2 (SD = 7.1). The Pearson correlation between the suicide rates of the immigrant groups and the suicide rates of the countries of origin was 0.79 (one-tailed p<.OO5). The present results based on 1920 data support the conclusion that immigrant groups commit suicide at a rate proportional to that of those in their country of origin.