Indicator: Youth Suicide Behaviors (formerly "Youth Suicide Attempts")

Priority or Priorities:  Youth in Transition, ACES/Resiliency
Initiative(s): Youth Suicide Prevention: (Maine Youth Suicide Prevention)
Outcome (s): Children and youth respected, safe and nurtured in their communities

 

Why This is Important

Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for Maine residents aged 15-24 and the 3rd leading cause of death for 10-14 year olds. Between 2000 and 2004, Maine teens and young adults (15 –24) died by suicide at a higher rate, 12.5 per 100,000, than the regional rate of 7.6 per 100,000 and the national rate of 9.9 per 100,000. For every youth suicide, there are an estimated 20 suicide attempts. Although there is no typical profile of a suicidal youth, youth most at risk struggle with emotional or behavioral difficulties such as depression, conduct disorders, substance abuse, and rigid behavior patterns. Suicide attempts indicate increased risk for suicide completion, as well as other severe behavioral health problems in the population.

Where We Stand

The Maine Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) in 2005 found that about 6% of Maine youth in grades 9-12 reported making at least one suicide attempt in the previous year, which is a notable decline from previous years. The percentage who reported considering suicide dropped considerably from previous years, as did the percentage who made a plan for how they would kill themselves, in addition, those who had medical treatment for a condition resulting from a suicide attempt dropped slightly. While nearly the same percentage of males and females reported making a suicide plan and actually having attempted suicide, girls were more likely to have sustained an injury that needed medical treatment (3% versus 1%).

However, the data from middle school students does not indicate a continuous decline; in some years the percentages are higher than among high school students. Though the percentage who reported “having ever thought about killing themselves” dropped by almost 10% between 1997 and 2001 (from 30.4% to 21.4%), there was little change between 2001 and 2005. The same pattern emerged for the data on “percent of middle school students who reported ever trying to kill themselves.” There was a drop between 1997 and 2001, from 13.6% to 8.1% followed by slight increases in subsequent years. In 2005 the percentage of middle school students reporting having ever tried to kill themselves (8.5%) was higher than the percentage of high school students reporting this behavior (6%).

Data Source and Context

This information comes from the Maine Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), Maine Department of Education. The data source is the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System maintained by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Data from the Maine YRBS is available on-line at http://www.mainecshp.com/survey.html. National YRBS figures can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs.  National YRBS data will be available for 2005 in Summer 2006.

*Important Note: YRBS data is gathered every two years using a questionnaire administered toa sample of students in Maine and nationally. When the Maine YRBS survey has an overall response rate of 60% or higher, the CDC statistically weights the results so that the numbers can
be generalized to all public school students in the state in grades 9-12. When the overall response rate is below 60%, the CDC does not perform such statistical weighting, and the data apply only to the students who actually filled out the questionnaires. Maine’s YRBS data for 1993 and 1999 was unweighted, so information from those years cannot be compared reliably with data from 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2005.