Girls Account for Increasingly Large Share of U.S. Youth Suicides

Men kill themselves more often than women, and the same is true for suicides among adolescents and teenagers. But the number of girls 10 to 19 years old who died by suicide has recently been increasing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While in the year 2000, girls accounted for around 17 percent of youth suicides, that number was 24 percent in 2017, the most recent year on record.

While concrete reasons for the shift are not known, researchers at the CDC noted that girls were generally more likely than boys to have suicidal thoughts and plans, but that females generally chose less violent and therefore less lethal means for suicide, surviving attempts more often. The researchers recently saw an increase in the suicides and suicide attempts of girls by hanging and suffocation (as opposed to, for example, poisoning) which is thought to have contributed to more deaths by suicide among girls recently.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline helps people in distress 24/7 with free and confidential support. The service is available at 1800-273 8255 or via chat. For a global list of phone numbers, click here.