Citation

Luby J, Kertz S. JAMA Netw. Open 2019; 2(5): e193916.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Medical Association)

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.3916

PMID

31099856

Abstract

In the context of increasing rates of suicide in US youth, a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that the largest percentage increases in the rates of suicide occurred in girls aged 10 to 14 years. In an unprecedented escalation, rates of suicide in this subgroup tripled between 1999 and 2014. Building on these findings, Ruch et al sought to investigate whether the known sex disparity in suicide, with boys being more likely to commit suicide than girls, was also changing. Using the Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiological Research (WONDER) database and applying incidence rate ratios and binomial regressions, the authors found a significant decrease in the male to female suicide ratio, suggesting that the historical sex disparity is equalizing. The authors underscore the implications of these findings for clinical risk detection and public health policy.

This study was not designed, and does not aim, to investigate what the sources of increasing suicide rates in youth more generally are or, even further, why these rates are increasing so rapidly in girls aged 10 to 14 years. However, these findings and the resultant equalization in sex disparity identified raise pressing questions about the causes of these trends. Social rather than biological determinants seem far more likely to be operational in such a marked behavioral change targeting a vulnerable subgroup over a relatively short period. There has been speculation and some empirical data to suggest that the rise of social media use in youth is one factor that may be associated with increased suicidality ...

Language: en