Youth suicide rates continue to climb in the United States, study finds



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The suicide rate among youth has continued to soar in recent years – to the point that the rate among 15 to 24 year-olds climbed in 2017 to reach its highest level since 2000, according to new research.

An increase was particularly observed among young people aged 15 to 19 and young men, according to a research article published Tuesday in

the medical journal JAMA

.

The discovery strikes near the house for the first author of the newspaper, Oren Miron, research associate at

Harvard Medical School

.


"In high school, one of my friends was bullied and he unfortunately committed suicide," Miron said. "He had such a bright future in front of him, if he had just spent two more years in high school."

Now, "our new information shows that suicide [among] The number of teenagers has reached its highest recorded level, and this shows that there has been especially an increase in male teenagers, "he said. The data shows that it's a very real threat. "

The research looked at data on deaths in the United States of America aged 15 to 24 between 2000 and 2017. The data came from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Underlying cause of death

database.

Among teenagers aged 15 to 19, the suicide rate was 8 per 100,000 in 2000 and 11.8 per 100,000 in 2017.

Among young adults aged 20 to 24, the suicide rate was 12.5 per 100,000 in 2000 and 17 per 100,000 in 2017, according to the data.

In total, in 2017, there were 6,241 suicides among young people aged 15 to 24, including 5,016 young men and 1,225 young women, the researchers found.

The research had certain limitations, including the fact that the causes of death in the data were based on death certificates, which may be subject to errors. It could also suggest that the observed increase in the number of suicide deaths may reflect more accurate information in certificates.

The research also did not examine the factors explaining the increase in the suicide rate. "Future studies should examine possible contributing factors and try to develop preventive measures by understanding the causes of the decrease in the number of suicides found in the late 1990s," the researchers wrote.

While research shows a dramatic increase in youth suicide rates, "this is unfortunately no surprise," said Nadine Kaslow, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the

Emory University School of Medicine

and chief psychologist at Grady Health System in Atlanta, who did not participate in the new publication.

Other studies have found

increase in suicide rate

especially among adolescents and young adults, but the new research "adds a few points, we note this particular increase among young men and also in the group of 15 to 19 years younger," said Kaslow.

Identifying the reasons for this increase remains a topic of interest to experts, she added, but it seems to be multifactorial.

"There have been a number of things that people have been talking about lately." One is simply the rising rate of psychological pain or psychological distress among young people –

more anxiety

and

more depression

– and I think that for a number of reasons, "said Kaslow.

According to Kaslow, there may be some reasons why family and community structures may not be as tight as in the past, which increases risk, or that the increased use of technology has allowed young people to spend less money. time to cultivate the rich, interpersonal relationships and more time to expose to cyberbullying.

"I do not think the use of technology is the problem, but I think it may be what affects our relationships and the problem of cyberbullying," she said. "There is growing evidence that cyberbullying is associated with depression, self-injury and suicidal thoughts, and even death by suicide."

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