STATISTICS

Teen Suicides

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The National Mental Health Association (NMHA)
http://www1.nmha.org/children/prevent/stats.cfm (2007)

• Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15 - 24 year olds (approx 5,000 young people) and the sixth leading cause of death for five - 15 year olds.
- American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

• Between 1980 and 1996, the suicide rate among children aged 10–14 years increased by 100%. Suicide is the sixth leading cause of death for 5 to 15-year-olds and the third leading cause of death for 15 to 24-year olds.
- A Month of Mental Health Facts:  Prepared by the staff of the Child Study Center
© 2006 Child Study Center, NYU School of Medicine

• Twenty-four percent of high school students have seriously thought about attempting suicide.
- A Month of Mental Health Facts:  Prepared by the staff of the Child Study Center
© 2006 Child Study Center, NYU School of Medicine

• The rate of suicide for this age group has nearly tripled since 1960, making it the third leading cause of death in adolescents and the second leading cause of death among college age youth.
- American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

• More teenagers and young adults died as a result of suicide in 1999 than cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, birth defects, stroke and chronic lung disease combined.
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

• For every older teen and young adult who takes his or her own life, 100-200 of their peers attempts suicide. Between 500,000 and 1 million young people attempt suicide each year.
- American Association of Suicidology

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/harmsway.cfm#children
Suicide in Youth - NIH Publication No. 03-4594 Printed January 2001;
Revised December 2006

• In 2004, suicide was the third leading cause of death in each of the following age groups. Of every 100,000 young people in each age group, the following number died by suicide:

• Children ages 10 to 14 — 1.3 per 100,000

• Adolescents ages 15 to 19 — 8.2 per 100,000

• As in the general population, young people were much more likely to use firearms, suffocation, and poisoning than other methods of suicide, overall. However, while adolescents and young adults were more likely to use firearms than suffocation, children were dramatically more likely to use suffocation. 
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) : www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars

• Almost four times as many males as females ages 15 to 19 died by suicide. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) : www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) : www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars

• Most suicide attempts are expressions of extreme distress, not harmless bids for attention.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP)
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/suifacts.htm
April 19, 2007

Most popular press articles suggest a link between the winter holidays and suicides (Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania 2003). However, this claim is just a myth. In fact, suicide rates in the United States are lowest in the winter and highest in the spring
- CDC 1985, McCleary et al. 1991, Warren et al. 1983

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP)
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/suifacts.htm
Facts At A Glance, Summer 2007

• Among young adults ages 15 to 24 years old, there is 1 suicide for every 100-200 attempts.
- Goldsmith et al. 2002

• In 2005, 16.9% of U.S. high school students reported that they had seriously considered   attempting suicide during the 12 months preceding the survey.

• Males take their own lives at nearly four times the rate of females and represent 78.8% of all U.S. suicides.
- CDC 2005

• There is one suicide for every 25 attempted suicides.
- Goldsmith et al. 2002

• 16.9% of students, grade 9-12, seriously considered suicide in the previous 12 months (21.8% of females and 12.0% of males).
- Eaton et al. 2006

• 8.4% of students reported making at least one suicide attempt in the previous 12 months (10.8% of females and 6.0% of males).
- Eaton et al. 2006

• 2.3% of students reported making at least one suicide attempt in the previous 12 months that required medical attention (2.9% of females and 1.8% of males).
- Eaton et al. 2006

• Among 15- to 24-year olds, suicide accounts for 12.9% of all deaths annually.
- CDC 2005

• For every completed suicide by youth, it is estimated that 100 to 200 attempts are made. Based on the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBSS), 8.5% of students in grades 9 through 12.

• Each day, there are approximately 12 youth suicides.

• Every 2 hours and 11 minutes, a person under the age of 25 completes suicide. 

• Research has shown that most adolescent suicides occur after school hours and in the teen’s home.

• The typical profile of an adolescent nonfatal suicide attempter is a female who ingests pills, while the profile of the typical suicide completer is a male who dies from a gunshot wound.