SUICIDE IN TEENS

Suicide in Teens



Suicide in Teens

Introduction

It is not uncommon for adolescents to think about ending their lives , although thinking about suicide does not always lead to suicide attempts. Youth often experience tremendous stress, confusion, and hopelessness related to situations in their lives, schools, and communities, which too often lead young people to consider suicide as their only solution. Despite alarmingly high youth suicide rates, there has been limited research on how to comprehensively predict, treat, and prevent suicide among youth (Burns and Patton, 2000).

Discussion

Scope of the Problem

Suicide is rare in childhood and early adolescence but increases every year as children age. Suicide rates in the United States for male adolescents between ages 15 and 19 are four times higher than the rates for their female peers. Due to the growing risk of suicide with increasing age, there is a critical need to target suicide prevention efforts in adolescents and develop suicide prevention programs.

During the past several decades, adolescent (ages 15 to 19) suicide rates in the United States have shifted. In 1950, suicide rates for both sexes for ages 15 to 19 were 2.7 per 100,000. By 1990, these rates reached a peak rate of 11.1 per 100,000. Subsequently, from 1990 to 2003, the rates significantly declined in this age group from 11.1 to 7.3 per 100,000 ( National Center for Health Statistics, 2005 ). According to a recent CDC report, adolescent suicide rates for 2003-2004 demonstrated the largest increase in annual suicide rates during the past 15 years, from 11.61 to 12.65 per 100,000 (CDC, 2007b ). The problem may actually be worse than these figures indicate because suicide rates may be underreported and misclassified (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2002 ). These trends demonstrate the urgency to prioritize suicide prevention efforts for adolescents.

Explanations for the differing rate trends are not easily understood. Some researchers assert the increased youth suicide rates of the 1990s were attributed to greater exposure of this population, particularly boys, to drugs and alcohol. The possible reasons for declining adolescent suicide rates between 1990 and 2003 in the United States include the use of antidepressant medication in treating depressed adolescents, the reduction of alcohol use, and more restrictive gun control laws (Brent and Mann, 2006).

RISK FACTORS

Family Although several factors are associated with adolescent suicide, the fact remains that family problems are among the top reasons cited by suicidal adolescents. The family atmosphere is disturbed that there is parental separation or not. We find such features as the presence of parental conflict and marital, physical or emotional abuse of children, a climate of violence, the alcoholism of a parent, the indifference of parents towards the young The immaturity of the mother, difficulties or a lack of communication, misunderstanding, lack of support, difficulties in negotiating the duties of their individuality, negative attitudes or neglectful parents to the young, the absence of emotional involvement, abandonment or rejection of the young, frequent investments in family or ...