Most youth who are contemplating suicide give warning signs and need to be taken seriously. These warning signs may include changes in their appearance, behavior or thoughts.
Kids who are good problem-solvers and have strong connections with family, friends and school are at lower risk for suicidal feelings. They also need access to quality mental health care.
Trauma
Suicide is a leading cause of death among adolescent and young adult youth in the United States. Adolescents who have experienced trauma are at increased risk for suicide-related behaviors. Specifically, childhood trauma disrupts stress hormone regulation and gene expression, increasing adolescent suicide-related behavior. Moreover, adolescents with trauma histories have an alternated perception of social situations and poor social skills, leading to feelings of chronic loneliness.
The 2023 YRBS data indicate high prevalence rates of mental health and suicide-related risk indicators among U.S. adolescents. These risk indicators are more prevalent among female students and LGBQ+ students. Differences by race and ethnicity need further exploration to identify and understand disparities in mental health and suicide-related outcomes among these demographic groups.
Additionally, YRBS provides valuable data on protective factors—those individual-, family-, and school-level health-promoting behaviors and experiences that mitigate the negative effects of risk factors. These include physical activity, positive coping skills, and supportive relationships. Research suggests that these protective factors can reduce the impact of trauma and other risky behaviors on adolescent health and lifelong wellbeing.
Mental Health Issues
Children and adolescents who have a mental health condition are at higher risk of suicide. Some of these conditions include depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. They may also have a history of trauma, abuse or family conflict.
In addition, if a child or adolescent has access to guns or other methods of self-harm, they are more likely to take their life. This is why it is important to take any threats of suicide seriously, even if they are not verbal. This is why it is important to have a safe plan for them, such as having friends stay with them or making sure that they don’t have access to weapons or other means of harm.
Screening in clinical settings can identify youth at elevated risk for suicidal thoughts or behaviors. These youths should be referred to mental health professionals for further evaluation and treatment. In addition, HCPs should familiarize themselves with the resources and providers in their community so that they can refer quickly if needed.
Relationships
Many suicide attempts by youths occur in the context of relationship conflicts. This can be a conflict with a parent, a girl or boy friend, a teacher or school counsellor or other adults. These conflicts can be very distressing and may lead the youth to conclude that the only way out of their current predicament is to die.
Fullerton’s research has found that the overall quality of a teen’s relationships, both inside and outside the home, has a major impact on suicide risk. This includes both positive and negative aspects of those relationships.
This includes the level of support a teen receives from their family and their friends and how involved they are in their lives. It also includes the type of substance abuse (if any) that a teen engages in as a means of escape from their problems. This does not include recreational drug use such as alcohol or drugs that are prescribed to them for a medical condition.
Environment
A number of environmental risk factors are associated with youth suicide. They include loss of a loved one, exposure to violence or other life-threatening events, and problems at home. Youth who have major depression or a history of substance abuse are also at increased risk for suicide.
Hallucination or delusion, such as hearing voices or seeing things that are not there, is another potential risk factor. These symptoms may be a sign of an underlying psychiatric illness that requires professional help.
Protective factors at the individual-, family-, school-, and community-levels can decrease the impact of these risks. Schools are critical for preventing youth suicide and should have trained mental health staff and clear procedures for identifying and intervening with students at risk. This includes teaching teens to recognize warning signs of suicide and how to practice talking with a trusted adult about these feelings. Also, schools should collaborate with local community mental health agencies to ensure that students are able to access services when needed.