--- title: More Kids Are Attempting and Thinking About Suicide: Study description: A new study says more kids — especially young girls — are attempting and thinking about suicide than they were almost a decade ago. canonical: https://time.com/5279029/suicide-rates-rising-study/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-16T12:13:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:09:58.679Z article:section: Health og:title: More Kids Are Attempting and Thinking About Suicide, According to a New Study og:description: Rates were higher among young girls og:url: https://time.com/5279029/suicide-rates-rising-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1b04969636611dd/6989307fe76ad2091463202b/pediatric-emergency-room.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5616 og:image:height: 3159 og:image:alt: Emergency Sign og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: More Kids Are Attempting and Thinking About Suicide, According to a New Study twitter:description: Rates were higher among young girls twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1b04969636611dd/6989307fe76ad2091463202b/pediatric-emergency-room.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # More Kids Are Attempting and Thinking About Suicide, According to a New Study > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=07a8f91f-ce4a-421f-b881-65512f5b4593&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Mental Health Roundtable: Experts Discuss Teen Suicide and Social Anxiety [Watch (HLS stream): Mental Health Roundtable: Experts Discuss Teen Suicide and Social Anxiety](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xjOucKoR.m3u8) (1:14)  _Published 2018-05-10. Mental health experts spoke about teen suicides and social anxiety at a roundtable panel held jointly by TIME and critically acclaimed Broadway musical 'Dear Evan Hansen.'_  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 16, 2018 12:13 PM UTC Mental health experts spoke about teen suicides and social anxiety at a roundtable panel held jointly by TIME and critically acclaimed Broadway musical 'Dear Evan Hansen.'  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 16, 2018 12:13 PM UTC The number of kids hospitalized for thinking about or attempting suicide doubled in less than a decade, [according to a study](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2018/05/14/peds.2017-2426?sso=1&sso%5Fredirect%5Fcount=1&nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token) published Wednesday in _Pediatrics_. In 2008, 0.66% of all U.S. children’s hospital visits were due to either suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts, also known as suicide ideation. By 2015, according to the study, that number had jumped to 1.82%, with rates rising across age groups and demographics. The largest increases were seen among adolescents between two age groups — 15 and 17, and 12 and 14 — according to the study. Increases were also higher among girls than boys, the study says. Interestingly, the researchers also observed significantly more suicide attempts or ideations during the school year; that’s in contrast to adults, among whom [suicide rates tend to spike in spring and summer](https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/suicide-rate-is-lower-during-holidays-but-holiday-suicide-myth-persists/). To reach these findings, researchers used billing data from the Pediatric Health Information System database, which tracks youth emergency room and inpatient hospital visits. The database showed that more than 115,800 suicide attempts or ideations occurred during the seven-year study period. [Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6630a6.htm) has shown that the number of teenagers dying by suicide is also on the rise. Why youth suicide rates are creeping up is harder to suss out. It may have something to do with climbing rates of [depression](http://time.com/5271244/major-depression-diagnosis-spike/) and [loneliness](http://time.com/5261181/young-americans-are-lonely/) among young people, or that pediatricians are increasingly referring children with mental health issues to specialists or hospitals. The prevalence of social media may also play a part, Dr. Gregory Plemmons, an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and the new study’s first author, [told NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/more-kids-especially-girls-are-attempting-suicide-it-s-not-n874481). “I don’t have any one magic answer that explains why we’re seeing this,” Plemmons said. “We know that anxiety and depression are increasing in young adults as well as adults. I think some people have theorized it’s social media maybe playing a role, that kids don’t feel as connected as they used to be.” Suicide is also a significant public health issue for adults. A February editorial in _the BMJ_ even attributed a [modest dip in the U.S. life expectancy to suicide](http://time.com/5138349/drugs-alcohol-suicide-life-expectancy/), along with drug and alcohol misuse. _If you or someone you know may be contemplating suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255._ ## Transcript Suicide among teenagers, 5000 young people this year, between 14 and 24, will commit suicide. Wow. 600, 000 will make a serious enough attempt that they will land up in an emergency room. That means that every Two and a half minute, someone is making an attempt. And here's the part that people forget. There are two million teenagers who think about suicide. It's because of their brains, remember, that pre- frontal cortex hasn't put on the safety belt, doesn't put a helmet on. They are thinking about it, and therefore, when one suicide happens, they're very susceptible. So you see these clusters happening all the time. So 90 % of the kids who commit suicide have a psychiatric disorder but this is a different type of brain. Teenagers have a different type of brain than children and adults. I think what we forget is that Teenagers only see opportunity, they don't see risk. Hm. And basically we always talk about the bad stuff. I have to tell you, the Parkland kids, the Parkland High School kids, they only see opportunity, they don't see risk too Right, right, right. But it's really positive, you know. they're talking into the face of the NRA or In talking right back to a US Senator. But you have to remember, they feel so passionately. 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