Risk Factors of Teenage Suicide

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Recommended: Teen suicide causes and prevention

Teenage suicide is a major national public health concern facing America today. Thousands of teenagers commit suicide each year. Many experts believe that teenage suicide is often due to unpredictable circumstances and can be contributed to hormonal impulses. However, recent case findings and statistics prove that this is not necessarily true. Although some teenage suicides may be the result of youthful and impulsive actions, certain risk factors, signs, and symptoms can contribute to self-inflicted death in adolescents.
For instance, the gender of a teenager plays a role in their overall risk of self-inflicted death. A recent study shows the suicide rates of teenage boys as being fifty-seven out of a million, but the teenage girl suicide rate came in at a much lesser fourteen out of a million (Otsuki 1). Eighty-four percent of teenagers that committed suicide from 1981 to 2003 were male (National Adolescent Health Information Center 2). Boys are also five times more likely to be successful in their suicide efforts while girls are more likely to attempt it. This is due in part to their methods of choice, as girls generally tend to go with a poison-like substance while boys choose firearms. Statistically, men are more likely to understand lethal weapons and the proper way to use them. Firearms are much more deadly than poisons, and this makes it a more successful control factor (Otsuki 1). The suicide prevalence among different ethnicities is scattered throughout. Asian-Americans and African-Americans have the lowest suicide rates out of all of the races (Otsuki 1). However, in recent years, the rates of African-American males in particular have increased by one-hundred and five percent. The rates among women that are ...

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...: 12-15 Naspoline.org. National Association of School Psychologists, Oct. 2011. Web. Mar. 12.
The National Institute of Mental Health. “Suicide in the U.S.:Statistics and Prevention.” NIMHRSS. The National Institute of Mental Health, June 2010. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
UW School of Social Work. “Facts About Mental Illness and Suicide.” Facts About Mental Illness and Suicide. University of Washington, 2014. Web 27. 2014.
Cornette, Michelle M. Busch. “Stress and Suicide.” The Charles E. Kubly Foundation. Charles E. Kubly Foundation, 2014. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Sher, L.,M.D.”QJM: An International Journal of Medicine.” Alcohol Consumption and Suicide. Oxford Journals, 2005. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Suicide Prevention Resource Center. (2008) Suicide risk and prevention for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. Newton, MA: Education Development Center, Inc. 28 Mar. 2014.

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