Research that was presented this spring on the suicidal thoughts or actions of younger children and teens shows a terrifying upward trend. In fact, the percentage has doubled in the last decade. From 2008 to 2015, 32 children’s hospitals saw a steady increase in admissions due to “suicidality and serious self-harm.”
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Although all age groups showed increases, the largest uptick was seen among teen girls (while females are more likely to attempt it seems in general that males are more likely to succeed).
“‘We noticed over the last two, three years that an increasing number of our hospital beds are not being used for kids with pneumonia or diabetes; they were being used for kids awaiting placement because they were suicidal,’ said Dr. Gregory Plemmons, presenter of the study and an associate professor of pediatrics at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
Sensing a trend, Plemmons and his colleagues conducted the research to see what was happening across the country, he said. ‘And it confirmed what we were feeling: that the rates have doubled over the last decade.'”1
Looking at administrative data from the children’s hospitals to identify the total number of emergency department and inpatient visits the team found that there were 118,363 children between the ages of 5 and 17 with a discharge diagnosis of suicidality or serious self-harm.
And these increasing suicide rates among children mirror the adult numbers (for both children and adults, the month of the year that is the lowest for suicidal thoughts is July but numbers go right back up when school starts).
However, what we still don’t know is WHY children think about or attempt suicide. While there are obvious risk factors, things like family history of depression/suicide, family violence, child abuse, gay and lesbian youth, puberty, social media/cyberbullying, history of bullying and school stress, there isn’t a magic bullet.
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However, according to David Palmiter, a professor of psychology at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, although the percentage of suicidal kids might seem like a scary number, the study does not prove that rates of suicidality are on the rise. For that, more study is needed. And that’s something that Palmiter welcomes:
“If anything, parents have to get better at recognizing the symptoms of depression, the lack of joy, the concentration problems, the isolating behaviors that occur.” 2
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