Youth Suicide

Each year, in the United States, more than 5000 young people aged 24 and under commit suicide. It is suspected that these official figures are an understatement and that the actual numbers are much higher. For 15-24-year-olds, suicide is now the third leading cause of death, preceded only by accidents and homicides. Among white male youths, suicide is the second leading cause of death. Before 1965, the suicide rates in the United States and in much of the world increased directly with age. Thus, the lowest suicide rates were among the young; moderate suicide rates were among those in their middle years; and the highest suicide rates were among those in their older years (1). In the late 1960s, the suicide rate among young people began increasing. These increases, which have continued until the present, changed those earlier relationships. Suicide rates now generally increase rapidly in the teen years, reaching a peak sometime in the 1920s; taper off and drop slightly in the 1930s and 1940s, and then go up higher again in the 1960s and 1970s (2). As one can see by Fig. 1, the relative rate of increase and decrease by age varies also by race and sex.