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SUICIDE HELP LINE!
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201 262- HELP
(201 262-4357)
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Screening Program) |
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National Strategies for Sucide Prevention
At a Glance - Suicide Among the Young
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| 1. For young people 15-24 years old, suicide is
among the three leading causes of death. In 1998, more teenagers and young
adults died of suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects,
stroke, pneumonia and influenza, and chronic lung disease combined. |
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| 2. Persons under the age of 25 accounted for 4459
suicides in the U.S.. Those aged 20-24 years represented 7% of the population,
but 8% of all suicide deaths in 1998. The rate among children aged 10-14
was 1.7/100,000, the rate for children aged 15-19 was 8.9 per 100,000, and
the rate for young people aged 20-24 was 13.6/100,000. |
Suicide: Cost to the Nation
...Some Sobering Facts
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| 3. Suicidal behaviors in young people are usually
the result of a process that involves multiple social, economic, familial,
and individual risk factors with mental health problems playing an important
part in its development. |
- . Suicide takes the lives of more than 30,000 American every year.
- Every 18 minutes another life is lost to suicide.
- Every day 80 Americans take their own lives and over 1,900 Americans
visit Emergency Departments for self-inflicted injury (National Hospital
Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, total 706,000).
- . Suicide is now the 11th leading cause of death in Americans.
- . For every two victims of homicide in the U.S. there are three persons
who take their own lives.
- There are now twice as many deaths due to suicide as to HIV/AIDS.
- . Between 1952 and 1995, the incidence of suicide among adolescents
and young adults nearly tripled.
- . In the month prior to their suicide, 75% of elderly persons had
visited a physician.
- . Over half of all suicides occur in adult men, aged 25-65.
- . Many who attempt never seek professional care.
- . Males are four times more likely to die from suicide than are females.
- . More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer,
heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia and influenza,
and chronic lung disease, combined.
(Taken from National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (NSSP))
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| 4. Identified risk factors for suicide and attempted
suicide for young people include the following: mood disorders, substance
abuse disorders, certain personality disorders, low socioeconomic status,
childhood maltreatment, parental separation or divorce, inappropriate access
to firearms, and interpersonal conflicts or losses. |
| 5. Only a few studies have examined protective
factors among youth for suicidal behavior. Both parent-family connectedness
and perceived school connectedness have been shown to be protective against
suicidal behavior. |
| 6. Over the last several decades, the suicide rate in young
people has increased dramatically. From 1952-1994, the incidence of suicide
among adolescents and young adults nearly tripled, although there has been
a general decline in youth suicides since 1994. However, national surveys
of high school students during the 1990s have found an increase in those
reporting suicide attempts that require medical treatment. |
| 7. An international study of suicides for those
aged 15-24 years in 34 high and upper middle income nations showed the United
States had the 12th leading suicide rate. |
| 8. Firearms (60%) and hanging (26%) were the two
most common methods of suicide used by persons aged 0-24 years. |
| 9. Males under the age of 25 are much more likely
to commit suicide than their female counterparts. |
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24-Hour Emergency Numbers
Adult Protective Services 1-800-624-0275 (Abuse & neglect
over 18)
Aids (NJ Aids Hotline) 1-800-624-2377
Child Abuse/Neglect (NJDYFS) 1-800-792-8610
Domestic Violence 201-487-8484 Shelter Our Sisters 201-944-9600
The Center for
Mental Health Services
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