Preventing Youth Suicide Essay

In the United States, suicide is the third-leading cause of death for 10 to 14-year-olds (CDC, 2015) and for 15 to 19-year-olds (Friedman, 2008). In 2013, 17.0% of students grades 9 to 12 in the United States seriously thought about committing suicide; 13.6% made a suicide plan; 8.0% attempted suicide; and 2.7% attempted suicide in which required medical attention (CDC, 2015). These alarming statistics show that there is something wrong with the way suicide is handled in today’s society. In order to alleviate the devastating consequences of teenage suicide, it is important to get at the root of what causes it all: mental illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (2013), mental illness is the imbalance of thinking, state of mind, and mood. Approximately 90% of all suicides are committed by people with mental illnesses (NAMI, n.d.). This shows that there is a correlation between mental illness and suicide. If mental illnesses are not treated, deadly consequences could occur. It would make sense that if there is a correlation between mental illness and suicide across all ages, the same should be thought for adolescents. Approximately 21% of all teenagers have a treatable mental illness (Friedman, 2008), although 60% do not receive the help that they need (Horowitz, Ballard, & Pao, 2009). If mental illnesses are not found and treated in teenagers, some of them may pay the ultimate price.

Did you know that suicide is the second leading cause of death for people between the age of 10 to 24 (CDCP)? According to the Jason Foundation, more adolescents die of suicide than of cancers, heart diseases, AIDs, birth defects, strokes, and pneumoniae combined. Particularly in the last fifteen years, the suicide rates of adolescent girls have tripled, experiencing the sharpest increase amongst the different age groups and genders (Bichell). In the United States, adolescent suicide is an ongoing social and health problem, in which people roughly between the age of 12 and 18, choose to take their own lives in order to escape an unfavorable situation or state-of-mind. Due to the increase in suicides, divorced families, and untreated depressions, adolescent suicide rates have dramatically risen. Current methods to reduce suicide rates, like the media’s guidelines for suicides and the government limiting access to firearms, have not been effective considering that the causes of the rise were not directly addressed or deeply considered. My methods to reduce adolescent suicide rates are to fully condemn suicide, by not mentioning it often, and to mandate educational programs on suicide and healthy relationships in all middle and high schools.

Suicide has been rising at alarming rates; the overall suicide rate for children and adolescents has increased over 300% since the 1950s. (Miller, 2009) Adolescent children are screaming out for our help, are we just ignoring the signs or do we not care? For young people, an average 1,800 take their own lives and 85,000 are hospitalized for attempts nationally (CDC, 2008). With this kind of statistics we need to step in and take some action.

Suicide is a prevalent cause of death among America's youth today. Every day more than 1000 teenagers will think about suicide and eighteen will be successful in committing it. It is an ever-growing problem that can be described as unnecessary and uncalled for. Knowledge and understanding are key factors to preventing teenage suicide. The problem will usually originate from a period of depression, either as a medical concern, or simply because of a saddened

According to Fowler, Crosby, Parks, and Ivey (2013), suicide and nonfatal suicidal ideations are significant public health concerns for adolescents and young adults. While the onset of suicidal behaviors is observed as young as six years of age, rates of death and nonfatal injury resulting from suicidal behavior are moderately low until 15 years of age (Fowler et al., 2013). According to Fowler et al (2013), the most current available statistics in the United States (U. S.) reported suicide as the third leading cause of death among youth aged 10-14 and 15-19 years, and it was the second leading cause of death among persons aged 20-24 years.

Boys are more likely than girls to die from suicide; however, girls are more likely to report attempting suicide with 81% of the suicide deaths in the 10 to 24 age group identified as males and 19% were females (“Suicide Among Youth,” 2013, para. 4). Therefore, addressing suicide prevention during a time that children are more acceptable to learning is ideal. Youth spend a significant amount of time in school; accordingly, schools should provide extensive training and information to the students in regards to suicide prevention. Unfortunately, individuals that die by suicide are not a certain age, a certain race, or part of a particular economic status. Thoughts of suicide can enter a person’s mind at any time which is why it is important to start suicide prevention education before the onset of situational factors that have the potential of developing suicidal thought. Schools are a naturally important place for students to receive

Suicide is a devastating, preventable tragedy and is among the top causes of death in the adolescent population. Compelling statistics given since 2009 show the number of

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 2015, suicide is the second leading cause of death in the adolescent population in this country and the number of occurrences continues to rise at a dramatic rate. For every teen that completes a suicide, 100 make an attempt, making suicide a paramount public health issue that needs to be addressed. Statistics show that since 2009, the rates of attempted and completed suicide, in this age group continue to steadily increase (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2015; Taliaferro, Oberstar, & Wagman-Borowsky, 2012).

“For youth between the ages of 10 and 24, suicide is the third leading cause of death, approximately 4600 lives lost each year. Of the reported suicides in the 10 to 24 age group, 81% of the deaths were males and 19% were females. The top three methods used in suicides of young people include firearm (45%), suffocation (40%), and poisoning (8%)” (CDC, 2015). The school is not an easy step to take, and a lot of students suffer from anxiety attacks caused by stress and depression. Sadly, these students usually don’t seek help or maybe they just simply don’t know where to go for the help. “The costs of suicidal behaviors and the savings that can result from preventing these behaviors can help convince policymakers and other stakeholders that suicide prevention is an investment that will save dollars as well as lives” (SPRC, 2015).

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 10-24 year olds in the United States (Kim, Dickstein). Every year there are thousands of teens dying, not from cancer, getting shot, or car accident, but by their own hands. Teens make the choice of committing suicide. Researchers reported that the number of teen suicides are rapidly growing each year. Whether people realize it or not, this is a huge problem and people need to acknowledge this situation. This problem can be prevented, just like any other problem in our world. Last year, there was this guy who committed suicide days before his graduation, but no one knew the justification behind his actions nor seen the signs. Locals would say many reasons why he did it, but only he knew why he did it. There are many causes to someone wanting to commit suicide. According to his mother, he was somewhat depressed, but continue to say that there was nothing wrong with him. Depression is the leading cause of someone wanting to committing suicide. Based on my research, I have come to the conclusion that depression is the main cause of suicide and experts agree with

“Statistics reveal that in the US approximately...nearly one million people attempt suicide each year” ("Suicide Risk Among Abused Children."). Suicide is not an act of randomness. It is a result of prolonged feelings and/ or events, which push that person to extremes they desperately want out of. Suicide rates are amongst the highest in teens, due to their lack of support systems. During these years many are trying to find-out who they are and fit in, thus many get accepted into some people’s views, but there are also a good number that get ignored and feel like they do not belong anywhere. Teen suicide can be a result of a home-life of abuse or mistreatment, psychological disorders, and lack of social support-bullying; however, through the education on the warning signs of suicide, providing more emotional outlets at schools, and creating safer environments the number of annual victims can be decreased.

Each day, 95 people in the United States die by suicide. No one is immune to this tragic act regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, geographic location, and socioeconomic status. Suicide is especially prevalent in the adolescent and young adult populations, and is the third leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 24 (Borges et al., 2010). Within the group of 10- to 14 year-olds, most deaths by suicide occur in children and adolescents ages 12-14, with the rate of suicide deaths increasing dramatically in the late teen years. The rate of suicidal behavior continues to increase until the early twenties, at which points it drops off until late

Suicide is the third most common cause of death for children and teenagers (Center for Disease Control (CDC), 2015). In order to combat these rising rates, preventative measures must be put into place. Among the places that a child is most likely to be accounted for is at school, therefore, schools must be involved in the preventative process. In this line of thinking the a coalition of interested organizations, such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, have created a Model School Policy on Suicide Prevention that schools can chose to implement in order to educate and aid students who are struggling with suicidal thoughts, provide information to school staff about risk and protective factors involving suicide as well as creating a safety measures and procedures if a suicide does occur.

Teen suicide is something that is endless, it will never stop but if everyone was educated on it, it could help prevent deaths. I think with people provided with statistics and further information can help avoid adolescent suicide attempts. I think most teen suicide cases could be prevent if we knew the signs to look for and the ways to stop it. I believe parents would feel safer if they knew knowledge on the issue and how to handle it. The intended audiences for this essay is parents or friends of suicidal teens. This essay is important because, as mentioned earlier, we need to be educated on suicide to end tons of tragedies. It is also important to be aware of the warning signs to help prevent. This essay is relevant because teen suicide is a war that happens daily, and will continue to happen, until we take control of the situation and do something to stop it. If family members were informed of the cause and symptoms leading up to the attempt of suicide, then there is less likely that teenagers would try and commit

Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds and the sixth leading cause of death for young people age 5 to 14 (“Teen Suicide is preventable” and “Teen Suicide”). Suicide risk factors vary with age, gender, ethnic group, family dynamics, and stressful life events. More than 90 percent of people who die from suicides have experienced these risk factors. In 2003, about