Why Suicide Is The Third Leading Cause Death Among Young People

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.

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 among young children is not something that should be over looked. It is the third leading cause of death in youth aged 10-14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Along with so many other things in the world today, it can be prevented. In this paper, I will review what suicide is and suicide risk factors, explain how common suicidal behaviors are among young males and females age 10-14, and examine causes of suicide using statistical findings and data collection.

Suicide was the second leading cause of death for 15-34 year olds in the United States in 2013 (Center for Disease Control, 2015). Additionally, the rates of suicide have increased 24% from 1999-2014 (Curtin, Warner & Hedegaard, 2016). Sadly, perfectionism has been found to be a significant predictor of suicidal ideation and completed suicide (Hewitt, Caelian, Chen & Flett, 2014; Flett, Hewitt & Heisle, 2014), as well as parasuicidal behaviors (Ayerst, Flett & Hewitt, 2012). Research by Kiamanesh, Dieserud, Dyregrov and Haavind (2015) have shown that maladaptive perfectionism was associated with unanticipated suicide in six adult men. Although perfectionism is a significant predictor of suicidality, the incorporation of interventions aimed at perfectionism are not abundant within programs aimed at preventing suicide (Flett, Hewitt & Heisel, 2014). Thus, it is important to understand how perfectionism relates to suicide, as well as learn how to target perfectionism when there are no clear indicators of suicidal ideation.

The rate of suicide, the act or an instance of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally, increases each year. “More adolescents die each year from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease, combined” (Preventing Teen Suicide, 2016, p.2). These facts show suicide is a serious problem among teens. Last year, teen suicide became the second leading cause of death in the United States confirming the significant increase in teen suicides.

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.

While all the above are driving factors of teen suicide, often the underlying concern is mental illness. Some teens who seek suicide initiate because of depression, borderline personality disorder or bipolar disorder. These illness intensify the pain a teen may suffer. Because of these underling illnesses, teens should seek and treat by medical professional.

According to WHO, suicide is the second leading cause of death for 15 - 24 year olds. . It is disturbing to notice that after the deaths caused by car accident, suicide follows. It is a terrifying act which shows the helplessness of the individual and he might have an extreme senses of guilt while conducting the act. Why would an individual come to this drastic solution?

One reason people commit suicide is that they are depressed. Depression is the feeling of severe dejection. It causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle activities, such as sleeping, eating, and working. (NH) Many who are considering suicide suffer from depression (Highbeam). For example a six year old girl committed suicide by stepping in front of a train. She was depressed because her mom had died from an illness. She couldn’t face a life without her.

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

Suicide has become a big issue in today's generation, especially for teens. Suicide is now known as the third leading cause of death among youth all around the world between 10 and 19 years of age. In the article, Preventing youth suicide-tips for parents and educators, the author states, “Teens are more prone to suicide because of the many difficult risks they may face today”, such as many teens face bullying in their schools, self-esteem problems, family dysfunction, drug addictions or it can be the simple fact that they are not mentally stable or have a mental illness like depression. However, suicide is preventable. Many teens who may be contemplating suicide frequently give signs, or approach in a different behavior. Some of these signs may include, suicidal threats, prior suicidal behavior, self harm acts, or change in behavior. It is crucial that parents, educators, and friends or family members notice these signs before the teen makes an effort to conduct an irreversible act. Many schools are taking role in suicide

Throughout their education, children sit through countless bullying and sex education programs, but suicide, the third leading cause of adolescent deaths (Caine 1), is practically ignored. Many schools only offer hot lines for suicidal students. While some schools have implemented suicide prevention programs and the government has recognized teenage suicide as a growing problem, effective solutions need to be discovered and funded to prevent these catastrophic deaths. The U.S. federal government should develop and fund suicide prevention programs in high schools, while focusing on strategies ranging from coping mechanisms to drug intervention and screening methods.

The author decided to pick this topic after watching a documentary on suicide titled, “The Bridge” which occurred at the golden gate bridge in San Francisco, CA. One could see in this documentary how various individuals of different age groups jumped from this bridge and died. From the author’s observation, all the individuals who jumped from this bridge had some sort of issues going on and most were due to some kind of mental illness. Thus, the author decided to pick this topic “depression” which is one of the high risk factor for suicide. Just in 2013, suicide was the tenth leading cause of death for all ages in the United States and by 2015, variation occurred. Suicide went up to being the second leading cause of death in persons aged 15-34

Suicide is a major problem and concern in our society, especially when it is the third leading cause of death among adolescents (Bean & Baber, 2011). Many factors contribute to teen suicide such as substance abuse, depression, anger, and loneliness (McWhirter, McWhirter, McWhirter, & McWhirter, 2013). Thus, it is crucial for counselors, teachers, and parents to recognize what the factors are to help prevent more teens from takin their lives. You mentioned catastrophic worldview as a risk factor associated with adolescent suicide. Per McWhirter et al (2013), having a catastrophic worldview means the individual has a negative view of the world and the future (p. 260). Although the world is in chaos with wars, poverty, and racism it

Suicide is the third leading cause of deaths in adolescents in the United States. Teen suicide is also often referred to as a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Teens so often are suicidal and attempt suicide as a call for help from others. They have no intention in dying they are just trying to cry out for help from anyone that will listen. Many reasons cause teen to attempt suicide, varying from bullying to psychological disorders. In fact, psychological disorders accounts for about 90% of teens who attempt or commit suicide. Teenagers are also at higher risk of suicide when they are under