Youth Suicide: the Scope of the Problem (IN: Youth Suicide: Issues, Assessment, and Intervention, edited by P Cimbolic & D A Jobes)

In this chapter, an overview of suicide in the USA is presented, followed by a more specific examination of suicidal vulnerability as a function of sex, race, age, & changes in suicide methods over time & to the present day. In 1988, suicide was the third leading cause of death for youth aged 15-24. A 287% increase in the suicide rate for young people between 1959 & 1985 is largely accounted for by the increase of suicides among white males. Firearms account for an increasing number of suicides.