Suicide attempts by black teens are increasing, study says
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
October 16, 2019
From 1991 to 2017, the rate of reported suicide attempts by African-American teens rose, especially the rate among black boys, according to a study published Monday in the medical journal Pediatrics. The rate for black youths grew even as the rate of suicide attempts by teens in other racial and ethnic groups fell.
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for teens from all demographics, according to the study. Only accidents kill more young people. In 2017, 2,200 teens age 15 to 19 died by suicide.
Researchers looked at survey data from 198,540 high school students from 1991 to 2017 from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Among high school students of all demographics, 1 in 5 said they were thinking about suicide and 1 in 10 said they had made a plan to carry it out. That's despite the "increased attention given to the creation of campaigns to reduce youth suicide in the United States over the last decade," the study found.
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Categories: Cycle of Life, Health Events