New Study Finds Suicide Attempts Amongst Black Children And Teens Are Rising

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for teenagers across the United States. Over the past two decades, suicide attempts decreased for teens in all ethnic groups except for African Americans. According to a new study, suicide attempts among Black children and teens are increasing at startling rates. 

According to CNN, these disturbing findings come from the study, “Trends of Suicidal Behaviors Among High School Students in the United States: 1991-2017,” which was published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

The study says self-reported suicide attempts for Black adolescents increased by 73 percent between 1991 to 2017. In comparison, self-reported suicide attempts for white adolescents fell by 7.5 percent during that same time. The conclusions are based on data from nearly 200,000 high school students from the nationally representative Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

“Kids are telling us something,” said Michael A. Lindsey, Ph.D., lead researcher on the study and executive director of the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University. “Particularly Black kids are saying that they’re engaging in higher rates of attempts, and I think that is something that every citizen in America should be concerned about.”

The growing rates of suicide among black youth reflects a tragic reality that many parents are forced to cope with.

The study continues to say that not only are Black youth more likely to attempt suicide, but their attempts are also more likely to be fatal. Earlier studies found increases in black youth dying by suicide, even among children as young as ages 5 to 11.

According to Lindsey, the study, which focuses on suicide attempts, has brought researchers closer to identifying risk factors for Black youth. 

“The reason you see the rates of ideations and plans going down but attempts going up, could be that attempts tend to be more of an impulsive act, rather than a planned one,” he said. “I think that this is a very novel study in that we are finding out this is a trend among Black teens, and this study begins to set us up for further investigation into why that is the case.” 

Another researcher on the study, Sean Joe, Ph.D., said the rise in suicides among Black youth can most likely be attributed to internalization of racial and structural issues, along with a decline in coping mechanisms and the lack of psychiatric investment in the community. 

“It has never been about their own capabilities, there is a broader context that limits them to be all that they can be and live their best possible lives,” said Joe, who is a professor of social development at Washington University in St. Louis. “So these kind of racial based structural issues, as well as the psychiatric issues that they might be experiencing, and the lack of science and investment — until we have equity in our science — those are a confluence of factors.”

The study also points to the possibility of “adverse childhood experiences” such as abuse and neglect, as well as poverty, which disproportionately affects Black teens playing a role as to why they attempt suicide.

Lindsey also believes increased exposure to racism, such as police shootings and daily microaggressions magnified through social media, could also be contributing to the problem. Pointing out social media in particular, due to the fact that it can be troubling for Black girls, who are attempting suicide at an even more accelerated rate than black boys.

“Research shows that girls exhibit more interpersonal stress from social media usage and cyberbullying,” Lindsey said, detailing the correlation with the heightened feelings of depression and hopelessness in girls in recent years. He cited research showing that in 2007, nearly 36 percent of girls reported those feelings, which increased to over 41 percent by 2017.  However, there was no such increase for boys. 

“Intersectionality, experiences with intersexual stigma and discrimination, affect Black female youth,” said Lindsey. He also explained that black girls experience “double jeopardy” in teen dating violence, which is reportedly also on the rise. 

“Black female teens experience both race and gender discrimination, more so than males, in the context of teen dating violence,” he says. 

While the rate of attempted suicide for Black girls is increasing at a faster pace than it is for Black boys, it’s the boys who are more likely to use a lethal means when attempting suicide according to the study. This information now makes it particularly important to identify symptoms of depression and risk factors for suicide before there is even an attempt. 

“Black youth tend to express their depression symptoms through physical complaints, through interpersonal challenges, often coming across as irritability or anger,” he says.

Both researchers say that along with more research on suicide prevention and risk factors for Black children and teens, there needs to be better access to mental health care in Black communities, including in the school system. Lindsey emphasizes that schools specifically need counselors equipped to address the interpersonal challenges Black kids face. 

“I think that it’s important to understand those nuances, specific to how they relate to depression, which is a precursor to suicide behavior engagement,” Lindsey says. 

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or suicidal crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).