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- Suicide is the 5th leading cause of injury deaths for children in the European Union and cuts across all age, economic, social, and ethnic boundaries.
- Suicide is defined as death from injury where there is evidence that the injury was self-inflicted and that the individual intended to kill him or herself.
- Females are most likely to attempt suicide, but males are much more likely to succeed in their suicide attempt. A child or youth attempting suicide is often so distressed that they are unable to see that they have other options and better choices.
- Child/youth suicide has been linked to conflicts with family, school, or interpersonal relationships, sexual and emotional abuse and stress.
- Exposure to suicide or suicidal behaviour of relatives and friends appears to be a significant factor influencing a vulnerable young person to suicide. Other risk factors are stigmatization, social exclusion, child abuse, and mental disorders in children or their parents6, as well as growing up in a single-parent family.
- In Ireland and England hanging is the most common means of suicide among 15-24 year olds, followed by drowning in Ireland and self-poisoning (especially in females who overdose on paracetamol) in England.
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- In the United Kingdom for example, self-poisoning was involved in more than 90% of episodes in adolescents 12 to 18 years of old presenting to a general hospital from 1990 to 2000 due to deliberate self-harm. Within that time period antidepressant overdoses increased and drug misuse was higher in boys.
- Substance abuse is thought to be a significant factor in youth suicide. American research has suggested that one in three adolescents were intoxicated at the time of their suicide attempt.
- In the United Kingdom it is estimated that there are approximately 19,000 suicide attempts by adolescents every year, which is more than one every 30 minutes. Young women aged between 15 and 19 years are the most likely to attempt suicide, usually by overdose, however the rate amongst young men has doubled since 1985. Attempted suicides occur 50 to 100 times for each completed suicide among adolescents.
- Research has shown that most adolescent suicides occur after school hours and in the teen’s home.
- Firearms in the home, regardless of whether they are kept unloaded or stored locked up, are associated with a higher risk for adolescent suicide.
- Suicide is preventable. Most persons who attempt suicide want to live; they are just unable to see alternatives to their problems and see suicide as the solution.
- Most persons who attempt suicide give definite warnings of their suicidal intentions, but others are either unaware of the significance of these warnings or do not know how to respond to them.
- Talking about suicide does not cause someone to be suicidal.
- Surviving family members not only suffer the trauma of losing a loved one to suicide, but also are themselves at higher risk for suicide and emotional problems.
- Worldwide, over 90% of countries have no mental health policy that includes children and adolescents.
This information has been taken from the Fact sheet on Suicide published by the Alliance in October 2006. This fact sheet including the references to the information above is available here.
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