Suicide

Suicide and Younger Children

Child SuicideMany people believe that suicide is just a teen and adult issue, but rates of child suicide are rising. As society forces kids to grow up earlier and earlier, our fear is that we will only see these rates continue to increase. The graph above is from a CDC report on the death of kids aged 10-14 from 1999 through 2014 (QuickStats: Death Rates for Motor Vehicle Traffic Injury, Suicide, and Homicide Among Children and Adolescents aged 10–14 Years — United States, 1999–2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;65:1203. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6543a8). You can see from the graph that while auto accident deaths have decreased significantly and homicides have decreased slightly over that time period, the rate of death by suicide in these pre-teen and early teen children has MORE THAN DOUBLED.

If you know a child who is talking about suicide or showing suicidal tendencies, don’t ignore it! Find help today. Call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) and find a mental health professional in your area that can help with your child. Err on the side of caution and don’t assume that just because the child is young that suicide is not a possibility. Unfortunately, the statistics show that it is a very real possibility!

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Tweet
Pin
Share
0 Shares
,
May 8, 2017by Wayne Stocks
Written by Wayne Stocks
Wayne is the founder and executive director of Hope 4 Hurting Kids. He is a happily married father of four kids with a passion for helping young people who are going through rough times. In addition to Hope 4 Hurting Kids, Wayne previously started I Am A Child of Divorce and Divorce Ministry 4 Kids to help kids who are dealing with the disruption of their parents' relationship. These are now part of Hope 4 Hurting Kids. Wayne speaks frequently at conferences and churches on issues related to helping kids learn to deal with difficult emotions and life in modern families. Wayne lives with his wife, three youngest kids, three dogs and an insane collection of his kids' other pets outside of Columbus, Ohio. In addition to his work with Hope 4 Hurting Kids, Wayne is a partner in a local consulting firm, an avid reader, coaches his son's soccer team and is a proud supporter of Leicester City Football Club (and yes, for those in know, his affinity for the club does predate the 2016 championship). You can reach Wayne at wayne@hope4hurtingkids.com.