Experts reveal that suicide rates have increased among United States children over the past few years.
Based on the latest estimates, the suicide rates among kids between ten and fourteen years old have roughly doubled since 2007.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established the mortality rate among children due to suicide, homicide, and traffic injury from 1999 to 2014. In 2014, researchers noted that vehicle fatalities declined by 58 percent from 1999.
Also, fatalities caused by homicide dropped from 1.2 fatalities per 100,000 kids in 1999 down to 0.8 deaths in 2014. On the other hand, although suicide rates somehow fluctuated between 1997 and 2007, they dramatically increased in 2014.
More precisely, the lowest suicide rates were recorded in 2007, with 0,9 fatalities per 100,000 children, whereas the highest were observed in 2014, with 2.1 deaths, or 425 fatalities.
According to Dr. Lisa Boesky, lead author and private clinical psychologist specialized in studying the patterns of adolescent suicide, younger children are more likely to commit suicide on an impulse.
Young kids might try to resort to such methods for various reasons different from the ones that teens usually have. Boesky underlines that kids most often hurt themselves because they are provoked by bad relationships between friends and family.
However, a 15-year-old teenager may attempt to kill himself due to a fight with his girlfriend. Most people know that depression precedes suicide, so they look for the common warning signs. Although this is true, younger kids have a higher risk of suffering from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
In other words, this is the warning sign of suicide among children. Boesky stresses that many people, even public health specialists, believe that suicide represents a problem which occurs only among teenagers, but this is not entirely true, as young kids can also attempt to hurt themselves.
Boesky says that the although suicide is harder to predict in children, there are some warning signs such as increased anger, irritability, and sadness. Guardians should monitor kids who suddenly become less interested in activities or friends, or if they become more isolated.
Experts strongly recommend adults to pay attention to what children are saying, especially bad things such as ‘I wish I were never born.’ Such things are abnormal, and parents should talk with their children more and question them about their feelings.
If this behavior gets worse, parents can contact anytime a counselor or pediatrician. Boesky added that more important than talking to children is to listen to what they are concerned about because communication and love are the key to a healthy relationship and to reducing suicide rates.
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