Unfortunately teenage suicide is relatively common. It is the 3rd leading cause of death among teenagers (White, 1999), with thoughts of suicide occurring in as many as 29% of teens, 19% having made a plan, and as many as 8% having attempted (Brener, Krug, Simon, 2000; Kandel, Raveis, & Davies, 1991).

Dealing with teenage suicide can be very difficult because it is affected by many factors that can change quickly making prediction very, very difficult. Adults and parents tend to downplay self-destructive behavior stating “It’s normal”, “I did the same thing when I was a kid”, and “They don’t mean it, they just want attention.” This kind of thinking can be a big mistake (White, 1999).

What should you be looking for?

Teenage Depression

First and foremost, you need to be on the look out for symptoms of teenage depression. Teenage depression often looks a little different; irritability and aggression appear to be more common, especially in boys. Also a depressed teen may struggle with acting without thinking first. Depression accounts for up to ½ of all serious suicide attempts and needs to be taken seriously (Fergussion et al., 2003).

Depression often shows up in teenagers as:

Sleep disturbance (sleeping too much or too little)

Difficulty concentrating

Feeling of hopelessness

Change in eating habits (eating too much or too little)

Hyperactivity or loss of energy

Serious risk taking

Change in school performance

Thoughts of suicide or other morbid preoccupations

Adolescents may also present with significant irritability, sexuality, and physical symptoms (stomach pain, headaches etc.) (White, 1999)

Many of these symptoms of depression may come and go, that’s normal, however when a few of them come around and seem to have trouble leaving for a week or two something is up and action may need to taken to protect your child. Also, please know that prior suicide attempts place your child in a very high-risk category and you will need to speak with a mental health specialist regarding enacting an adequate Safety Plan to ensure your teenagers safety.

Family Problems

Second, you need to be looking for problems in your family that may be upsetting your teen such as:

Teenage or family history of abuse (physical, emotional, and especially sexual)

Low levels of family connection (ie. poor relationships with parents, severe conflict with siblings)

Significant changes in the family such as a parental divorce or separation, a major move to a new location, or the death of a loved one

Family violence

Parental drug and alcohol abuse

Parental contact with the law

Family history of suicide (Debski et al., 2007)

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*** Any advice given on this website is offered in generic form. In other words, all of our site visitors have unique qualities that play a role in their personal mental health. We do not know you personally and can therefore not take into consideration these qualities when offering advice, and do not claim to do so. All information provided on this site is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her existing psychologist, mental health professional, teacher, or professor. ***

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Written by Joseph James, Psy.D.

REFERENCES

Brener, N. D., Krug, E. G., Simon, T. R. (2000). Trends in suicide ideation and suicide behavior among high school students in the United States, 1991-1997. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior, 30, 304-312.

Debski, J., Spadafore, C. D., Jacob, S., Poole, D., & Hixon, M. D. (2007). Suicide intervention: Training, roles, and knowledge of school psychologists. Psychology in the Schools, 44(2), 157-170.

Fergusson, D. M., Beautrais, A. L., & Horwood, L. J. (2003). Vulnerability and resiliency to suicidal behaviors in young people. Psychological Medicine, 33, 61-73.

Kandel, D. B., Raveis, V. H., & Davies, M. (1991). Suicidal ideation in adolescence: Depression, substance use, and other risk factors. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 20, 289-309.

White, T. W. (1999). How to identify suicidal people: A systemic approach to risk assessment. The Charles Press Publishers, Inc., PA.