Report: Suicide Attempts Among Black Teens Increased by 73 Percent
According to a new report, attempted suicide is on the rise among a very specific demographic: black teenagers.
From CNN:
These findings were culled from data collected from nearly 199,000 high school students by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey.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.
Additional findings include the following:
- Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for teens from all demographics, second only to accidents, and the third-leading cause of death among black youth between the ages of 15 to 19 in 2017.
- In 2017, 2,200 teenagers between the ages of 15 to 19 completed suicide.
- Among high school students, 1 in 5 admitted to experiencing suicidal ideations and 1 in 10 admitted to devising a plan to carry it out despite intensified efforts to reduce youth suicide throughout the country.
- While reported suicide attempts among black teens increased between 1991 and 2017, boys were more apt to injuries related to their attempts—inferring that they utilized more lethal means.
“It is urgent that we get to the bottom of why the rate of suicide attempts CONTINUE READING: Suicide Attempts Among Black Teens on the Rise, According to New Report