In 1999, the mortality rate for children and adolescents aged 10–14 years for deaths from motor vehicle traffic injury (4.5 per 100,000) was about four times higher than the rate for deaths for suicide and homicide (both at 1.2). From 1999 to 2014, the death rate for motor vehicle traffic injury declined 58%, to 1.9 in 2014 (384 deaths). From 1999 to 2007, the death rate for suicide fluctuated and then doubled from 2007 (0.9) to 2014 (2.1, 425 deaths). The death rate for homicide gradually declined to 0.8 in 2014. In 2013 and 2014, the differences between death rates for motor vehicle traffic injury and suicide were not statistically significant. Source: CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, Mortality Data; http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/deaths.htm . 
 
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 Since 2007, the rate of suicide deaths among children between the ages of 10 and 14 has doubled, according to new government data released Thursday. 
 
 The death rate data, published in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, measured children’s fatalities due to motor vehicle traffic injury, homicide and suicide between the years 1999 and 2014. 
 
 On a positive note, the number of deaths due to motor vehicle traffic, or car crashes, has improved significantly through the years, the report says. In 2014, vehicle fatalities decreased by 58% from 1999, when there were 4.5 deaths per 100,000 children, to 1.2 deaths in 2014. Deaths from homicide have also declined over the same time period, though less dramatically, decreasing from 1.2 fatalities in 1999 to 0.8 in 2014. 
 
 Conversely, the suicide death rates fluctuated from 1999 to 2007 but rose sharply after 2007. The lowest rate of suicide fatalities was 0.9 deaths per 100,000 kids in 2007, but that number doubled to 2.1, or 425 deaths, in 2014. 
 
 Not just a teenage problem 
 
 Dr. Lisa Boesky, a private clinical psychologist and author who studies adolescent suicide, says younger kids will often take their own lives impulsively. 
 
 Young kids may attempt to harm themselves for different reasons than teens. Most of the time, bad relationships between family and friends provoke kids to hurt themselves, Boesky says. On the other hand, a 14-year-old may kill herself because of a fight with her boyfriend. 
 
 When looking for the warning signs for suicide in kids, “many people look for signs of depression,” Boesky explained. “Teens (who attempt suicide) typically show mood swings and depression, but younger children are much more likely to suffer from (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder). 
 
 “Many people, including medical professionals, think suicide is a teenage problem,” Boesky said. “But suicide can happen at very young ages, and we have to talk about this problem with all children.” 
 
 How do we prevent suicide in kids? 
 
 Though it can be more difficult to predict suicide in children, Boesky notes several warning signs. Any increased sadness, irritability or anger should be monitored. Guardians should also pay attention to children who suddenly lose interest in their friends or activities, or begin to isolate themselves more. 
 
 Finally, adults should tune in to what kids are saying. Take heed if they start saying mean or derogatory things or if they say things like, “I wish I were dead” or “I wish I could go to sleep forever.” 
 
 “These sayings are not normal,” Boesky emphasized. For parents, if children start displaying these behaviors, Boesky advises talking to the kids about their feelings and questioning why they feel that way. If the actions worsen, parents may want to contact a pediatrician or counselor. 
 
 She added, “Although it is important to talk to your children, it is even more important to listen.” 
 
 There is very little research regarding suicide in children in the 10 to 14 age group and younger, according to Boesky. She hopes that the CDC’s report will highlight the problem of suicide rates increasing in kids and that both medical professionals and parents will be better prepared to prevent harm before it happens. 
 
 “This is a wakeup call for more research on why young children are taking their lives and how we can intervene,” Boesky said. ||||| WASHINGTON — It is now just as likely for middle school students to die from suicide as from traffic accidents. 
 
 That grim fact was published on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They found that in 2014, the most recent year for which data is available, the suicide rate for children ages 10 to 14 had caught up to their death rate for traffic accidents. 
 
 The number is an extreme data point in an accumulating body of evidence that young adolescents are suffering from a range of health problems associated with the country’s rapidly changing culture. The pervasiveness of social networking means that entire schools can witness someone’s shame, instead of a gaggle of girls on a school bus. And with continual access to such networks, those pressures do not end when a child comes home in the afternoon. 
 
 “It’s clear to me that the question of suicidal thoughts and behavior in this age group has certainly come up far more frequently in the last decade than it had in the previous decade,” said Dr. Marsha Levy-Warren, a clinical psychologist in New York who works with adolescents. “Cultural norms have changed tremendously from 20 years ago.”
– In 2014, 384 US kids aged 10 to 14 died in car accidents. That same year, 425 US kids of the same age range died of suicide. The stat, released by the CDC Thursday, is "really surprising," an expert who analyzed the data tells the New York Times. "We think of traffic accidents as so commonplace." But they're becoming less common, while suicide is becoming more so: Back in 1999, adolescents in that age range were four times more likely to die in a traffic accident than to die by their own hand. By 2014, the number of car accident deaths had been halved, but the number of suicides had almost doubled. One potential reason behind the increase in the suicide rate: social media. Where before just a handful of classmates may have been privy to an embarrassing moment, for example, now the news might quickly spread through an entire school—and beyond. There's also the fact that girls are hitting puberty earlier now than they did historically, and experts say they may be too young to handle the issues of sex, gender identity, and more that come along with that change. And, an expert tells WTVR, younger kids are more likely to commit self-harm impulsively. "Many people look for signs of depression" as a warning sign of suicide, she says. "Teens (who attempt suicide) typically show mood swings and depression, but younger children are much more likely to suffer from (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder)."