Violence and Victims, Volume 17, Number 3, June 2002 © Springer Publishing Company 283 Risk Factors for Suicide Attempts Among African American Women Experiencing Recent Intimate Partner Violence Martie P. Thompson Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Alanta, GA Nadine J. Kaslow J. B. Kingree Emory University Alanta, GA The purposes of this study were to identify risk factors for suicide attempts among 200 African American abused women (100 attempters, 100 nonattempters) and to test a cumu- lative risk model to determine if a woman’s likelihood of making a suicide attempt increased as the number of risk factors increased. Results revealed that attempters were significantly more likely than nonattempters to report high levels of depressive symptoms, hopelessness, drug abuse, and childhood abuse and neglect. Results from the cumulative risk model revealed a linear association between the number of risk factors and the odds of making a suicide attempt. Compared to women with no risk factors, women with two risk factors, women with three risk factors, and women with four to five risk factors were 10, 25, and 107 times, respectively, more likely to attempt suicide. The identification of risk variables highlights the importance of designing interventions to address these factors in order to reduce the risk of suicidal behavior in abused, African American women. Keywords: African American; intimate partner violence; domestic violence; abuse; suicide S uicide was the 14th leading cause of death among females in 1998 (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System, 2000). Although suicide is less preva- lent among African American women than among Caucasian women, it still repre- sents a significant public health problem for African American women. Among African American women in 1998, suicide was the fifth leading cause of death among 15 to19 year olds, the sixth leading cause of death among 20 to 24 year olds, and the ninth leading cause of death among 10 to 14 and 25 to 34 year olds (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System, 2000). A prior history of suicidal behavior is the most significant predictor of a suicide com- pletion. Over their lifetimes, 10% to 15% of individuals attempting suicide eventually kill themselves. Thus, identifying risk factors for suicide attempts can potentially reduce mor- tality due to suicide completions.