YOUTH SUICIDE

Youth Suicide

Youth Suicide

Overview of suicide in youth

It has been observed that, among those attempting suicide, family break-up is significantly more frequent than in a control population. There is also a higher frequency of pathological family antecedents. The existence of forebears attempting suicide, suffering from mental illness or alcoholism is found among 50 per cent of persons attempting suicide. Family alcoholism is a factor which differentiates, in a statistically significant way, between those attempting suicide for the first time and recidivists (Andrews, Lewinsohn, 2008).

Suicide rates also vary by ethnicity (Abramson, Metalsky, Alloy, 2008). White youths are more likely to die by suicide than are Black or Hispanic youth. Among white youths, suicide is the second leading cause of death; among black and Hispanic youths, suicide is the third leading cause of death(Adcock, Nagy, Simpson, 2007). Although the rate of suicide has increased for all subgroups of US youths since the 1970s, the suicide rate for youth black males has increased most dramatically (Allberg, 2007). Other sources suggest that American Indian and Alaskan native youths have particularly high rates of suicide (Grossman, Milligan, & Deyo, 1991). The suicide rate among 15- to 24-year-old Native Americans is more than twice that for other Americans. In most ethnic groups within the United States, the incidence of suicide is greatest among the elderly; however, among Native Americans, suicide rate peaks between the ages of 20 and 24. We note, however, that there is a great deal of variation among tribes (Allen, 2007).

Over the course of youth, the incidence of suicide generally increases with age (Alloy, Abramson, Tashman, Berrebbi, Hogan, Whitehouse, Crossfield, Morocco, 2005). Several developmental phenomena could contribute to this change. First, older youths have more sophisticated cognitive skills. Not only do these abilities allow them to plan a more effective suicide attempt, but they could affect the degree to which the youth truly intends to die (Amenson, Lewinsohn, 2006). Second, older youths are more likely to suffer from psychopathology (American Psychiatric Association,, 2008), which is a major risk factor in suicide (Andrews, Lewinsohn, 2008). (Angold, 2008) has suggested that “the relationship between psychopathology and suicide may be moderated by cognitive development, with increasing cognitive maturity making the completion of suicide more likely” (Asarnow, Carlson, Guthrie, 2007).

Accidents were the leading cause of death from 15-24-year-olds in 1997 (Beck, 2006); how many such “accidents” might have been suicides is impossible to determine. Another problem is the reluctance to label a young person's death as a suicide. Even when friends or family members are aware of the victim's intentions, they may not call the death a suicide because of guilt, shame, or spiritual reasons (Beck, 2007). In order to spare family members from having to cope with the stigma of an youth suicide, some physicians may declare the cause of such deaths to be accidental. In a survey of medical examiners, (Beck, Kovacs, Weissman, 2008) found that 58 of these physicians surmised that the actual suicide rate is probably double the reported ...