Mapping Out the Causes of Suicide in Teenagers and Children

August 29, 2017

(Philadelphia Inquirer) – “This is who is dying from opiates – people in their 20s and 30s. Think about what that population is,” Nelson said. “It’s parents.” Now Nelson is working with county coroners across the nation to try to corroborate his theory, that trauma from the nation’s opioid epidemic could help explain an extraordinary increase in suicide among American children. Since 2007, the rate of suicide has doubled among children 10 to 14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death between the ages of 10 and 24. The suicide rate among older teenage girls hit a 40-year high in 2015, according to newly released data from the National Center for Health Statistics.