The latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionshow a startling increase in suicide rates, among both who’re and black teens.
“The suicide rate for white children and teens between 10 and 17 was up 70% between 2006 and 2016, the latest data analysis available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although black children and teens kill themselves less often than white youth do, the rate of increase was higher — 77%.”
Why are adolescents feeling so stressed and depressed that they would kill themselves?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Could it be the competition factor…..for grades, top notch college acceptance, AP scores, SAT scores, high paying careers? Could it be crazy helicopter and lawn mower parents promoting the competition factor? Could it be that comparison sucks the joy out of everything good, fun and worthwhile in learning and life? Could it be that social media and it’s instant response (or lack of) helps promote a “me” mindset while undervaluing face to face contact of normal human interaction? It kind of bothers my 17 yo daughter that I don’t give a rat’s A– about any of the above ^^^, but I kindly tell her that the only thing I want for her is to be happy in her life and to be a good and decent human being. We have a problem…it’s called free market…it works for business, but it doesn’t work for life.
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It doesn’t really work for business either, businesses (the bad ones) just think it does. What would work best for everyone is employee run co-ops where employee needs are front and center.
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Broadening your point- Perception of pecking order took a perverse and corrosive turn. Because of various situational factors over the past two decades, teens lost a window into an adult world that had security, inclusion and that showed values greater than wealth acquisition.
And, with the loss of the vision, the teens lost the expectation for a future that makes sticking around seem worth it.
Absence of hope leads to suicide.
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The teen suicide rate for boys was much higher in the early and mid 1990’s than it is today (See https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6630a6.htm). I think any speculation about what caused the recent increase in teen suicide rates needs to account for the historic high rate of teen suicides in the early to mid 1990’s and the laudable fall in teen suicides between 1995 and 2005.
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There are many factors that may contribute to depression, but lack of access to mental health professionals, and the stigma still attached to having a mental health issue contribute as well. The teen years are turbulent times in terms of growth and social pressure, and social media is one more pressure that can put a child on the path to suicide.
My daughter was deeply depressed in high school. Luckily, we were close, and we saw the signs. I also had good insurance that covered her therapy. I think the source of her depression stemmed from social stress at her school and the fact that she was super-sensitive and fragile. We changed her school. She attended a therapeutic high school, which was available to her in New Jersey. I am thankful that we did not have social media at the time because this was the worst time in her and my life. As a teacher I am used to solving problems, but this one made me feel totally helpless.
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Social media is a big influencer in the feeling of despondency, inadequacy, and inferiority in young adults. It has been described to me as one perceiving that you do not having as many friends, as much fun, as many socially-based constructs of success when viewing other postings, profiles, photos etc.
The brutality of the “Like” function can cripple one’s confidence: juxtaposing between you liking something and that personal value not being reflected in the voting patterns of others. It leads some to question their deepest foundations of self-identity.
These feelings can occur even when a young adult has a support network of caring adults and an established group of friends.
Add on to this the process of rejecting binary gender identification or sexual preference and the rate of depression and suicide proliferates in some communities, where young adults fear becoming socially rejected completely. Sometimes school is the only place they can be themselves and if that piece of support is missing…
I have also noticed an increase in anxiety and insecurity in early grades children, in both boys and girls. Fear to try new activities and believing their work is not good enough. Looking at this from a developmental perspective, I wonder if giving more opportunities to play without constant adult direction or take physical risks like climbing and jumping out of a tree can help support these early indications of having self-worth determined by an external locus.
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From The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this group):
The 2017 age-adjusted suicide rate is 14.0 per 100,000 individuals.
The rate of suicide is highest in middle age — white men in particular.
In 2017, men died by suicide 3.54x more often than women.
On average, there are 129 suicides per day.
White males accounted for 7 of 10 suicides in 2016.
Firearms accounted for 51% of all suicides in 2016.
In 2016, the highest suicide rate (19.72) was among adults between 45 and 54 years of age. The second highest rate (18.98) occurred in those 85 years or older. Younger groups have had consistently lower suicide rates than middle-aged and older adults. In 2016, adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 24 had a suicide rate of 13.15.
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US.
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Link for above data: https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/
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I did not mean to diminish the alarming rise in teen suicides. The dramatic rise of teen suicides is due to a whole host of factors as LisaM listed them above. I’m just guessing that the social media probably play a big role in the recent rise of suicides but I’m no sociologist or statistician.
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Yes, social media would be my first guess for why things would be very different in 2016 versus 2006.
As a white male between the ages of 45 and 54, I’m just trying to make it to 55.
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More and more kids are being used as human guinea pigs for the pharmaceutical companies, Their brains are still developing and they are being given drugs that have a multitude of side effects, one of which which is suicidal ideation. No real help, just drugs.
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and not just guinea pigs for pharmaceuticals: guinea pigs for test-based school “reform” invasions, guinea pigs for a massive technology push, guinea pigs for a frighteningly narrowed curricula which eliminates recess and time in brain-developing sunshine….
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Sadly, the suicide rate in many demographic groups continue to increase. It is one of the reasons that the life expectancy in the USA is declining.
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Because they feel their youth being stolen and see no good future.
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Why stick around when life is a crap shoot?- One paycheck or event away from catastrophe- a complete and isolating disaster which kids have been led to believe is caused by individual failing. The American judicial system like everything else is capricious.
(1) median family income below $60,000, with both parents worn out from work (2) an average family cost of $28,000 for medical coverage which provokes guilt when doctor co-pays are necessary (3) if the kid’s family isn’t rich enough to afford all of the consumerism around them, its a failure of the Mom and Dad. There’s no reason to think they’ll have whatever the magic is that propels celebrities to success. (4) Social media shows them everybody else is leading a great life which contrasts with theirs.
The President’s statement, “only stupid people pay taxes”, promotes the view of the singularity of success- money.
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“Why are adolescents feeling so stressed and depressed that they would kill themselves?”
Because the decades long war being waged to destroy public education has stripped away many of the humanizing factors that were once part of public education. This war complete with misleading propaganda campaigns funded by those autocratic billionaires has resulted in burned out teachers that are leaving the teaching profession in record numbers.
The children are overwhelmed by this manufactured stress/crises and are more depressed and decide they don’t want to live in a dystopian cruel world like the one the billionaires are building. Those children are escaping by killing themselves in moments of desperation.
I think that the economic pressure on the middle class and families living in poverty is increasing this situation.
The anger and despairing the children hear and experience at home in addition to what they are being forced to do in schools of all kinds, except for the most expensive private schools only the wealthy can afford, is breaking them. Play and recess time is being cut. Sports are being cut. Extra curricular activities like band, drama, chorus are being cut. School nurses are vanishing. School counselors are being cut.
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Bleak.
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Sorry Lloyd, but the school counselors are a big part of the problem. They push these kids into AP classes, they push them to participate in expensive SAT/ACT test prep, they lie to them and tell them that they won’t get into college if they don’t take AP classes etc. I have a 17 yo in public school (my younger son is going to private HS because of all of this) and this is what I have to deal with on a regular basis. Then there are the English and Math teachers who keep repeating this year after year. What’s even worse is that the parents around here love love love to compare their children and use their children’s test scores and accomplishments as their own bragging rights. I live in an area of total deform and it is awful trying to raise happy, emotionally healthy children.
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And who turned the school counselors, the few that stay where there are still positions, into automatons that turn up the pressure on children?
When I was still teaching (retired in 2005), the HS where I taught had one counselor for each grade level. That meant each counselor had 500 or more students and the counselors were responsible for scheduling those students into their classes in addition to working with children that challenge the system and disrupt the learning environment.
What counselors in most public schools have become is not their fault — that was caused by the agenda from the top down?
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Lisa,
The push also comes from communities who support school systems that have high graduation rates and high college enrollments.
Many systems have rid themselves of wood shops, culinary arts and
beautician programs – not all students have to go to college – counselors have numbers of students to handle that are beyond reasonable
“Dirty jobs” also provide services that are necessary and fulfilling in many ways – and you do not need the SATs to be an electrician, plumber or start your own businesses.
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@Jscheidell….I live in one of those districts. See my post from above ^^^^. All I’m saying is that guidance counselors AND teachers are to blame also for promoting this mindset. These are teenagers with hormonal swings all over the place and those working in schools should know that adding competition, comparison and social media into the mix just makes problems worse. These are the adults that are supposed to be helping students….not lying to them, not hurting them emotionally. I am a parent to a 17 yo public HS student and I get an earful from her ALL THE TIME. I get to mingle with the crazy, over the top parents and I just can’t understand it. It makes me sick what people (parents, teachers, counselors, admin) will do to children for the sake of a test score .
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My 14yo believes it’s because adults in the room (including teachers) don’t take the time to listen. Each story is different but there are common themes.
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Diane,
I encourage you to read “Screen Schooled” because while I can’t talk specifically to suicide I do wonder about anxiety and lack of ability to understand our world due to quick tech fixes.
The authors do a great job of explaining a lot of current lack of learning due to current practices a.k.a. tech based personalized learning.
I attended a class on mental health issues and a math teacher stated that while we give students more time and freedom to do the work, the class itself is behind and the academics performance is going down. There is a lot of test anxiety and I wonder if it’s because kids don’t know the material.
There is an app that kids can use to do their math problems.
If they don’t know an answer for other assignments, they can go to quiz let and get the answer and just copy it.
Are we educating a generation that are anxious because we have not taught them how to function in this world.
I blame a lot of this on technology but not all on social media.
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Usually right,
The current drive to depersonalize learning with computers makes it very hard to listen to students. Teachers want to and try but those at the top are forcing mandates that are bad for kids and teachers have little power to stop it.
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“Teachers want to and try”
I’d dispute that ‘trying’. Almost all teachers, no doubt forced by the adminimals, implement malpractices that they know harm students. Why? No justice for the students, just self-interest over the interests of the students:
“Should we therefore forgo our self-interest? Of course not. But it [self-interest] must be subordinate to justice, not the other way around. . . . To take advantage of a child’s naivete. . . in order to extract from them something [test scores, personal information] that is contrary to their interests, or intentions, without their knowledge [or consent of parents] or through coercion [state mandated testing], is always and everywhere unjust even if in some places and under certain circumstances it is not illegal. . . . Justice is superior to and more valuable than well-being or efficiency; it cannot be sacrificed to them, not even for the happiness of the greatest number [quoting Rawls]. To what could justice legitimately be sacrificed, since without justice there would be no legitimacy or illegitimacy? And in the name of what, since without justice even humanity, happiness and love could have no absolute value?. . . Without justice, values would be nothing more than (self) interests or motives; they would cease to be values or would become values without worth.”—Comte-Sponville [my additions]
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