
A new report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that suicides have hit a 40-year high for teenage girls.
An alarming new report out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has disturbing news about teenage girls in the United States. According to 2015 statistics, the rate of suicide for that group has reached a 40-year high.
And the news isn’t good for teenage boys and young men either, as the suicide rates for them increased by more than 30 percent betwee 2007 and 2015. But the increase was most pronounced in girls over that time period, with the rate doubling.
The rate has fluctuated over the years. The suicide rate among females between 15 and 19 years old was 2.9 per 100,000 in 1975, and then it jumped to 3.7 in 1990 before dropping to 2.4 in 2007. However, it has suddenly spiked to 5.1 in 2015. For young men, it dropped from 18.1 in 1990 to 10.8 in 2007 before increasing to 14.2 in 2015.
“Suicide is a serious public health problem that can have lasting harmful effects on individuals, families, and communities,” the CDC states. “While its causes are complex and determined by multiple factors, the goal of suicide prevention is simple: Reduce factors that increase risk (i.e. risk factors) and increase factors that promote resilience (i.e. protective factors). Ideally, prevention addresses all levels of influence: individual, relationship, community, and societal. Effective prevention strategies are needed to promote awareness of suicide and encourage a commitment to social change.”
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