By Amy Norton
HealthDay reporter
MONDAY, June 14, 2021 (HealthDay News) – An increasing number of young Americans, including children, are killing themselves with firearms, a new study shows.
Researchers found that between 2008 and 2018, gun suicides saw an “alarming” increase among Americans aged 5 to 24 years. And while these child suicides remain rare, the rate in children under the age of 15 has quadrupled during the study period.
It is well known that youth suicide is on the rise in the United States. Last year, a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documented a 57% increase in suicides among 10- to 24-year-olds between 2007 and 2018.
The new study looked specifically at gun suicide, which accounts for more than half of suicide deaths in the United States, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
The study found that between 2008 and 2018, these suicides among 15- to 24-year-olds rose by 50%. In 2018, there were seven such deaths per 100,000 Americans in that age group.
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Gun suicides were much less common in children ages 5-14. However, the relative increase has been strong – quadrupling from 0.12 per 100,000 in 2008 to just under 0.5 per 100,000 in 2018.
Although these numbers are small, the pattern is “very worrying,” said lead researcher Dr. Sarah Wood of the Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
“We wanted to open people’s eyes to this happening,” she said.
However, the reasons for the trends are unclear.
“This is only descriptive data,” said Wood. “They don’t tell us the ‘why’.”
But there are likely several reasons – possibly a combination of deteriorating mental health in young Americans, wider access to guns, and other factors, she added.
The results underscore the fact that guns are a public health issue, said Dr. Ken Duckworth, chief medical officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Arlington, Virginia.
“We know that having access to firearms is a risk factor for suicide,” said Duckworth.
There is also a correlation between state gun ownership and suicide rates, he noted. Research shows that suicide rates are highest in states with the most gun owners and lowest in states with fewest.
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Duckworth, who reviewed the results, said the study provided important information.
“We know that youth suicide is on the rise,” he said. “This is about the means.”
The results – recently published in the Annals of Public Health and Research – are based on CDC data collected between 1999 and 2018.
Early in that period, Wood said, gun suicides were declining among young Americans.
“Then in 2007 you see that sharp upward curve,” said Wood.
This is in line with what studies, including the CDC report, have found on youth suicide in general. The explanations have remained elusive, despite various theories, including a role for social media.
When it comes to gun suicides, it’s obvious that the issue of gun access needs to be addressed, according to Woods’ team.
Ignoring the role of guns, they write, is tantamount to ignoring cigarettes in the fight against lung cancer.
The most important thing for parents, Duckworth said, is to seek help with their children’s symptoms of depression and reassure their children that they can always talk to them.
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If there is a firearm in the house, he added, safety precautions are even more important.
Wood said parents who have concerns about their child’s mental health can speak to their pediatrician and find local resources.
The research is closely tied to the release of a new CDC study on June 11, which says the suicide attempt rate among teenage girls has increased by half during the coronavirus pandemic.
The CDC researchers said emergency rooms for suspected suicide attempts by 12- to 17-year-old girls increased by 26% in the summer of 2020 and 50% in the winter of 2021, compared to 2019. Emergency rooms related to alleged suicide attempts among boys in this one Age group and young adults aged 18 to 25 years remained stable during the pandemic.
Duckworth said other studies have documented particularly high levels of psychological distress from the pandemic among young Americans.
But, he added, there is a long delay in getting reliable data on suicides.
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More information
The National Alliance on Mental Illness has more to do with suicide prevention.
SOURCES: Sarah Wood, MD, Interim Dean and Senior Associate Dean, Education, Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton; Ken Duckworth, MD, chief medical officer, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Arlington, Virginia; Annals of Public Health and Research, May 31, 2021, online; Weekly report on morbidity and mortality, June 11, 2021
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