Posted on 06/14/2004 4:20:10 AM PDT by tdadams
Suicide among American youngsters and teens has dropped dramatically in the last decade, particularly with regard to firearms deaths, the government said Thursday.
The suicide rate for those ages 10 to 19 fell by about a quarter, from 6.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 1992 to 4.6 per 100,000 in 2001, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
CDC researchers did not immediately know why the rate dropped, but one expert said tougher child access to firearms and issues concerning stigma over sexual orientation have played an important role in reducing teenage suicides.
"When we look at the completed suicides, especially in the older age group, these often are suicides that had to do with something much more definitive such as with a firearm," said Dr. Charles Wibbelsman, chief of The Teenage Clinic of Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco. "Hopefully in the last nine years there is probably less access for adolescents to firearms and guns."
Wibblesman, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on adolescents, said the easing of social stigmas of being gay or lesbian also may have played a role, as one in three male suicides often are because of sexual orientation.
"There are shows (concerning gays and lesbians) today that weren't on nine years ago," he said. "It's been much more 'Out' and in that respect, we've saved a lot more people's lives."
The CDC study also found that hanging and other forms of suffocation _ including use of belts, ropes or plastic bags _ are on the rise among American youngsters. These forms of suicide deaths have even overtaken firearms deaths among those age 10 to 14 years old, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC researchers were surprised by the switch in suicide methods and said they first noticed the trend in the early 1990s. By the end of the decade, suffocations had surpassed self-inflected shootings.
Health officials said they do not know why the change in methods occurred and whether it had anything to do with the use of trigger locks, lock boxes and other measures for keeping guns out of youngsters' hands.
But Wibblesman said better gun safety measures have kept children from having access to an injury source that is very effective in causing self-inflicted death.
In 1992, there were 96 suicides by suffocation among Americans 10 to 14 years old, the CDC said. That rose to 163 in 2001. Firearm suicides dropped from 172 to 90 during the same period.
Suffocation suicides also rose among teens ages 15 to 19 during the same period (from 333 deaths a year to 551). Firearms remain the most common means of suicide for that group, though the number of deaths from self-inflicted shootings dropped from 1,251 a year to 838, the CDC said.
The drop in the rate for children and teenagers mirrors the national trend for suicide, which has been on the decline since 1994. But CDC researchers are examining why the national rate increased for the first time in six years between 2000 and 2001, from 10.44 to 10.69 deaths per 100,000.
BOLOGNA! Of all suicides, suicide by firearms is incredibly low compared to hanging, jumping off a building, etc.
Suffocation suicides also rose among teens ages 15 to 19
Quick!! BAN PLASTIC BAGS!!! If it saves just one child.....Then, ban gravity. Don't want the little darlings falling outta trees now, do we?
I'm sure ten years from now the rise in suicides will be attributed to straight teens not being cool and artsy enough for homosexuality.
PUKE!
. . .
"Hopefully in the last nine years there is probably less access for adolescents to firearms and guns."
This guy Wibblesman is an "expert"? Could he have possibly been even less definitive? The article refers to no evidence whatsoever, and the so-called expert used those weasel words to cover for the lack of evidence. The CDC researchers who performed the study came to no such conclusion. This is propaganda, pure and simple.
A homosexual propaganda (LIE) effort to imply the only cause of suicide is the inablity of teenagers to have access to homosexual sex partners.
If anything, the evidence suggests a nearly exact substitution effect of this group substituting suffocation for firearms, which is precisely what the pro-freedom, pro-firearms experts predicted.
It is insane that the writer of this propaganda hunted until he could find one "expert" to spin it the opposite of what the facts show.
I am sure that John Lott would see this as another prime example of "The bias against guns" that he so brilliantly proves in his book of the same title.
bump
I'm not sure that I get this one...
From the statistics that I've seen, the number of households with guns has increased over the years of the study...
So how does a decrease in suicides corespond to "tougher gun control?"
More importantly, what are the rates of teen suicide in countries that have extremely strict gun control, like Japan, or fairly loose gun control, where every home has a gun, like Israel and Sweeden?
Those would be some useful numbers to see.
Mark
Another case of gun-grabbers confusing 'causation' and 'correlation'.
You mean Switzerland?
In 1992, there were 96 suicides by suffocation among Americans 10 to 14 years old, the CDC said. That rose to 163 in 2001. Firearm suicides dropped from 172 to 90 during the same period.
I didn't read this closely but my BS meter is already active. So, the report claims a reduction in suicides by firearms was offset by a slightly greater increase in suffocation suicides (aka short drop hangings). And that's cause for celebration?
What about attempted suicide? Whay weren't they mentioned?
Users of firearms for suicide tend to be more effective whereas a low drop hanging is almost by definition a botched attempt that sometimes proves successful in that the person suffers for some period of time during which period, intervention may occur.
True, the fear of being sexually molested after they're dead may have prevented some suicides. The decline in firearms suicides is more likely the result of Eddie Eagle, and other safety programs.
Nonsense. It is because of the funding of adolescent units in psychiatric hospitals. Kids are big business. They are still behaving in a suicidal manner. They are just locked up and medicated,.
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