Suicide Rates Are Skyrocketing Among America's Youth - Especially For Young Men

Brittany M. Hughes | June 19, 2019
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There’s a new disturbing trend among America’s youth.

Well, there are many, actually, but this one is especially alarming.

According to this, suicides are on the rise among American teens – particularly young men between the ages of 15 and 19.

In fact, the study, published in the journal JAMA and co-authored by a Harvard researcher, found that in 2017, the suicide rate among 15-to-24-year-olds reached its highest point since 2000, skyrocketing from 8 per 100,000 young people in 2000 to 11.8 per 100,000 by 2017. Among those between 20 and 24, the suicide rate jumped from 12.5 per 100,000 to 17 per 100,000 in that same time frame.

The suicide rate was far and away higher among young men, coming in at nearly four times the number of suicides among young women. Of the 6,241 suicides among young people aged 15 to 24 recorded in 2017, 5,016 were men compared to 1,225 women.

While it’s not known the exact cause of the rise in suicides among young people, Nadine Kaslow, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine and chief psychologist at the Grady Health System in Atlanta, told CNN she had some theories.

Some reasons, Kaslow said, could be that family and community structures may not be as tight-knit as in the past, leading to increased risk, or that the increased use of technology has led to young people spending less time on cultivating rich, in-person relationships and more time being exposed to possible cyberbullying.

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