Overcoming America’s Youth Suicide Outbreak Through Youth Outreach

Today, according to the Center of Diseases Control (CDC), suicide is the second leading cause of death among the ages of 15 to 24-year-old youths. CDC also states that about 1 in every 15 students report attempting suicide every year. This means that there may be as many as 100 to 200 suicide attempts for each suicide death among young people. But for some youth groups--including those who are involved in the child welfare, juvenile justice systems, LGBTQ community, minorities, and military service members--the incidence of suicidal behavior is even higher. With the increase of youth suicide, it brings influence on others which can cause additional potential suicide attempts or deaths. It breaks the social construct and sensitivity of youth culture and raises a more prominent issue outside the youth community. 

Although suicidal thoughts and attempts are common in the youth community, there are many suicide prevention and interventions that care for them about an attempt or death. Specifically, multilevel and multimodal interventions have been suggested for suicide prevention. However, few studies have reported the outcomes of such interventions for suicidal behaviors. There are insufficient data available from controlled trials to recommend one intervention over another for the treatment of suicidal youth.