United States: An alarming trend of suicide among US teenagers by using all means has been under the news as reported by a bunch of experts in the US. This trend has been increasing since 1999; however, the jump became prominent during the Corona pandemic phase.
Over the span of the last two decades, there have been 47,000 deaths in those ages 10 and 19 from suicide, according to the report. Additionally, the last few years demonstrated a sharp, continuous peak in the cases.
Disparately, more girls and adolescents from minorities produced a steeper growth in suicides, per the study led by Cameron Ormiston of the US National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
The researchers published the study in the journal JAMA Network Open on March 29 and stated, “An overall increasing trend was observed across all demographics.”
What does the study reveal?
The study used the federal death certificate data taken from 1999 to 2020, upon which the examination was conducted.
Findings revealed disparities in the number of suicide cases across race, sex, and means of suicide, which, as per the researchers, demonstrate a disturbing trend.
To take an instance, from 1999 to 2020, 2.7 percent of deaths were reported among all adolescents from using drugs or other substances. However, specifically, there are 4.5 percent of cases among girls.
Moreover, this trend has been paced up recently between 2011 and 2020, as the jump in suicides by overdose cases rose 12.6 percent for female adolescents, as reported by Ormiston’s group.
The group added that all of these findings showcase that “adolescents are finding more lethal means of poisonings, contributing to an increase in deaths by suicide,” as US News reported.
Apart from that, suicides by using guns accelerated by 5.3 percent annually from 1999 to 2020 among boys. However, this rise has been observed in more girls, which is 7.8 percent.
The researchers stated that even though older teen boys conventionally have higher suicidal tendencies than girls, “recent evidence suggests these gaps may be closing as suicide rates are increasing more rapidly among female adolescents than male adolescents.”
However, the most serious trend was discovered among minority children, who experienced a substantial increase in off-task behavior.
From 2012 to 2020, gun-related deaths of black adolescents have risen by 14.5 percent per year, according to the data, with the same trend being reported in Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Asian American young people, too, as the report showed.
Ormiston’s group said, “The recent, rapidly accelerating rates of firearm suicide among Black, Hispanic or Latino, and American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents are concerning,” as US News reported.