TEENAGE DEPRESSION & SUICIDE - The Facts
Teenage Suicide is a Canadian epidemic that we need to take seriously.
• Suicide is the second leading cause of death for teens in Canada and third leading cause of death in the US.
• Suicide and attempted suicide has increased 300% in the last thirty years.
• Teen/youth suicide rates have tripled since 1970.
• Nine out of ten suicides take place in the home.
• For every completed suicide there are an estimated 30 to 50 attempts.
• 70% of suicides occur between the hours of 3 p.m. to midnight (when they could be saved).
• Males complete suicide 4 times more often than females.
• Females account for 75% of the attempted suicides (mainly with drug overdoses).
• Approximately one-third of teens who die by suicide have made a previous suicide attempt.
• Males use more violent means, e.g. guns, hanging.
• Only 33 to 50 % were identified by their doctors as having a mental illness at the time of their death and only 15 percent of suicide victims were in treatment at the time of their death.
• In 1978, Regina High School students revealed that the majority felt sad or depressed regularly. 50% felt lonely sometimes, 25% felt lonely all the time, 40% admitted to thinking about suicide. 8% said they would commit suicide if they had the opportunity.
• Spring and fall are the months of highest risk.
• An estimated 80% of all those who commit suicide give some warning of their intentions or mention their feelings to a friend or family member.
• In 1996, 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.
• From 1980 to 1996, the rate of suicide among African-American males aged 15 to 19 years increased by 105 percent.
• For every two homicides in the U.S. there are three suicides.
• Having a firearm in the home greatly increases the risk of youth suicide. Sixty-four percent of suicide victims 10-24 years old use a firearm to complete the act.
Teen suicide is a serious problem in the United States. It is the third leading cause of death among teenagers — almost 2,000 teens kill themselves each year.1
Many more teens attempt suicide. A recent survey of high-school students found that:
- Almost 1 in 5 had seriously considered attempting suicide;
- More than 1 in 6 had made plans to attempt suicide; and
- More than 1 in 12 had made a suicide attempt in the past year.2
If you look around a class of 25 students, at least five are likely to have seriously considered suicide, and at least two are likely to have tried to kill themselves in the past year.
Female teens are much more likely to attempt suicide than males
3, but male teens are four times more likely to actually kill themselves.
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