Exploring suicide among immigrant farmworkers in the United States: evidence from the National Violent Death...

Agricultural workers face some of the highest suicide rates in the United States, yet limited research has examined suicide among immigrant and migrant farmworkers (IMFs), a population recognized as particularly vulnerable within occupational health surveillance priorities. This study examined circumstances contributing to suicide among IMFs and compared these to circumstances among U.S.-born farmworkers using National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) data.

This multiple methods study used NVDRS data from 2013 to 2023, restricted to decedents in agricultural worker occupations (SOC Minor Group 45-2000) who died by suicide. Decedents were classified as IMFs (foreign-born) or U.S.-born based on birthplace. Bivariate analyses examined associations between nativity and reported circumstances preceding suicide, followed by multivariable logistic regression adjusted for age, sex, race, ethnicity, marital status, and education. A single-author qualitative analysis of investigative narratives, using an iterative inductive coding process with peer debriefing as a rigor check, identified themes describing IMF suicide circumstances.

Of 1,162 decedents, 17% (n = 201) were foreign-born. IMFs were older, more likely male, more likely Hispanic, and had lower educational attainment than U.S.-born decedents. IMFs were less likely to die by firearm (22% vs. 57%) and more likely to die by hanging/strangulation/suffocation (64% vs. 30%). In adjusted analysis, Hispanic ethnicity (OR = 0.014), older age (OR = 0.961), and being married (OR = 0.366) were associated with lower odds, while firearm method (OR = 2.126) was associated with higher odds, of U.S.-born status. Investigative documentation completeness did not differ significantly by nativity. Qualitative analysis identified four themes: stigma and avoidance of mental health care; violent and conflictual intimate relationships; substance use and associated familial shame; and immigration-related vulnerability and compounded isolation.

IMFs experience intersectional stressors-including immigration-related vulnerability, stigma, and isolation-that shape suicide risk in ways distinct from U.S.-born farmworkers, and that align with constructs of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness from the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide. Predominant use of hanging/strangulation among IMFs highlights limitations of conventional lethal means restriction strategies for this population. Culturally responsive, community-based, and workplace interventions-including stigma reduction, social connection programming, and multilingual lethal means safety messaging-are needed to address suicide risk among this underrecognized and vulnerable occupational group.