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Comment by nonethewiser | Hacker News Reader

> Moreover, the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey revealed that during the previous year 18.8% of US high school students seriously considered attempting suicide, 15.7% made a suicide plan, 8.9% attempted suicide one or more times, and 2.5% made a suicide attempt requiring medical treatment.

Wait a minute, what?

Nearly 1 in 10 attempted suicide? So in a middle school of say 400 kids a kid would know almost 40 peers that tried to kill themselves? I wasnt in middle school in 2019 but this just doesnt seem right. Maybe im misunderstanding.

Edit: it says high school not middle school, but point stands

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Apparently it's even worse (slightly, but still...) in 2021 according to https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/su/su7201a6.htm.

This is horrifying. These kids are going to become adults who will, to some extent, struggle to have successful, satisfying and rewarding lives.

Hopefully they won't get hooked on opiates like so many adults in the free-ranging generation before them.

This is already the case

2.5% of 400, or 10, made a suicide attempt requiring medical treatment. That doesn't mean the rest aren't in trouble and in need of help, but it's likely that in a previous decade we could have missed them.

Still, 10 out of 400 needing medical treatment for a suicide attempt, is awful, and seems much higher than when I was in high school.

8.9% attempted suicide. Thats what im referring to as nearly 10%

Sure, but if it didn't result in seeking medical care, then maybe nobody ever hears about it. This being true both now, and when we were in high school, it is hard to judge if that number is too high to be plausible or not.

The 2.5% number is more directly comparable to past numbers, if we assume that suicide attempts that lead to requiring medical care are more likely to get reported somehow.

Maybe, in the past, some high schooler one night decides to drive his car faster and faster on a deserted road, hoping that it will end up with death by car wreck. Then, they decide against it, slow down, pull over, cry, and eventually go home. We never hear about it unless they admit to somebody that it happened. But, if they end up putting the car in a ditch and get treated at a hospital, perhaps we do.

My goodness what a depressing topic to comment on. Anyway, hope everybody out there reading this feels ok! If not, it gets better, keep trying!

Maybe there's something like a "mental health crisis" that could be why it's so high.... /s

Im not denying that. Im saying those numbers are shockingly high

It's not a "mental health crisis," it's schooling in general. The suicide rate among teenagers plummets when school goes out, or in the case of 2020, when a pandemic forces everyone to stay at home.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/07/19/teen-su...

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/childrens-risk-of...

https://pages.uoregon.edu/bchansen/Back_To_School_Blues.pdf

I would be curious at how far you have to go for “attempted”, especially when most supposed attempts did not require medical intervention (so it might consist of getting the materials and not having the final nerve to go through with it).

But having graduated high school in 2014, my anecdotal reaction based on that experience would be that it seems on the high side but is plausible.

My reaction certainly isn’t “no way.”

Yeah there is a lot of gray area. Its also self reported, so they could also feel motivated to over report for some reason or another

Yeah that sounds way off.

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