Suicide Rates Among Young Americans on the Rise, Especially Girls

 

Suicide rates among young people in the United States have been on the rise for almost 10 years, with the sharpest increase found among girls. That information comes from a new study published in JAMA Network Open.

The study found that suicides among girls aged¹ 10 to 14 increased by about 13 percent each year between 2007 and 2016. Suicides among boys in the same age group rose by 7 percent per year.

Donna Ruch is a researcher at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in the state of Ohio. She was the report’s lead writer. She said the research shows a “significant” increase in younger female rates of suicide.

Ruch said she believes the bigger increase in deaths among girls is related to changes in the methods girls choose to try to kill themselves.

“Now they are using more lethal² means,” she said. “And that really concerns us.”

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 19 in the United States.

To take a closer look at suicide trends among the young, Ruch and her team examined nationwide data on suicides among people aged 10 to 19 from 1975 to 2016.

The researchers identified 85,051 deaths among U.S. youth between those years. About 80 percent of them were boys.

Rates of suicide in children aged 10 to 14 went down between 1993 and 2007. After that, they began to rise again, by 12.7 percent per year among girls and by 7.1 percent among boys.

Similar trends were seen among people aged 15 to 19, with a decline until 2007, then yearly increases of 7.9 percent among girls and 3.5 percent among boys.

Ruch and her team cannot explain the increases. But she said finding a reason is “an important next step.”

For now, she advises parents to know the warning signs that a child might be in danger: “Is the child making suicidal statements? Are they unhappy for longer periods of time? Are they withdrawing from friends and school activities?”

If they are, Ruch said, “that’s when you should start to consider taking your child to a mental health professional.”

Suicide expert Ian Rockett suggests that the numbers in the study actually underreport the number of girls who kill themselves.

“We know that females are more inclined to use drug intoxication³ as a method,” said Rockett, a professor at West Virginia University in Morgantown and the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

“That’s less likely to be picked up as a suicide,” Rockett noted⁴.

Rockett believes that media may play a role in the rising rates of suicide among young people in general. He points to a soon-to-be-published paper he helped write that links the Netflix television series “13 Reasons Why” with increased suicide rates among both boys and girls.

“The association we found is actually stronger in females,” he said. “And that should be a cause for concern related to exposure to mass media.”

I’m Ashley Thompson.

Words in This Story

significant - adj. large enough to be noticed or have an effect

lethal - adj. causing or able to cause death

youth - n. the time of life when someone is young : the time when a young person has not yet become an adult

trend - n. a general direction of change

withdraw - v. to stop spending time with other people

inclined - adj. wanting to do something or likely to do something

intoxicated⁵ - adj. affected⁶ by alcohol or drugs

association - n. a connection or relationship between things or people

exposure - n. the fact or condition of being affected by something or experiencing something : the condition of being exposed tosomething

1 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

2 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

3 intoxication   

n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning

参考例句：

• He began to drink, drank himself to intoxication, till he slept obliterated. 他一直喝，喝到他快要迷糊地睡着了。
• Predator: Intoxication-Damage over time effect will now stack with other allies. Predator:Intoxication,持续性伤害的效果将会与队友相加。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 intoxicated   

喝醉的，极其兴奋的

参考例句：

• She was intoxicated with success. 她为成功所陶醉。
• They became deeply intoxicated and totally disoriented. 他们酩酊大醉，东南西北全然不辨。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。