The 1990 survey questioned 12,000 high school students across the country. Even though the recorded number of suicides is alarming, Lieberman believes it could be much higher. Lieberman cited an example in which a teen committed suicideon a school bus after a baseball game. He played Russian Roulette in front of his peers. Yet, Lieberman said, the teen's death was listed as an accident.
Adults like to blame it on the music, the school or something else.
Because it is so difficult to cope with, adults are prone to underestimate the number of teen suicides or decide it is a white male phenomenon or blame it on music, schools or drugs. There are no easy answers to why certain children want to kill themselves. Other reasons point to a sense of hopelessness as well as the teen experience of stress, confusion, self-doubt, pressure to succeed, financial uncertainty and other fears. A lack of socially acceptable ways for youngsters to express anger, a lack of connection to religion and the increasing mobility of the American family have also been cited. More females and kids 12 years old or younger cited family discord as their reasons for attempting suicide.