And I felt it in my own eyes and face and in my heart. But the pain can be prevented and young lives can be saved if all of us who love young people keep our eyes and ears open and take the danger seriously. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among people between the ages of 15 to 19 and the third leading cause for ages 15 to 24. While accidents cause more deaths than suicide, experts believe that many accidents are probably suicide-related.
Females make more attempts at suicide than do males, but males are more successful at completing it.
Whites have the highest suicide rate among adolescents, but the suicide rate among young black people is closing the gap. Because many young people live in the present, have unrealistic expectations of the future and may believe that things cannot change, they frequently do not see that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. We can help by learning to recognize risk factors and warning signs, such as negative life stress, hopelessness, depression, anxiety, inability to cope, being a gay or lesbian who is coming out and losing a relationship. We need to be alert for any indication that young people are feeling pain with which they may not be able to cope. The next and most important step is seeing to it that such a young person gets professional help.