Demographics

The Demographics of Youth Suicide: Gender, Age, Geography, Socioeconomic Status

There are a variety of factors that contribute to youth suicidal behavior, such as gender, age, geography, and socioeconomic status. I’ve explored these demographics below.

Gender: (Miller 155)

• Females are more likely to report more suicidal ideation than males (155)
• Females attempt suicide at rates two to three times the rate of males (155)
• Males commit suicide at a rate five times that of females (155)
• Reasons for higher suicide rate of males in comparison to females include: (155)
• Higher rates of significant suicide risk factors among males (example: access to firearms, alcohol abuse)
• Males are less likely than females to engage in a number of protective behaviors, such as seeking help, being adequately aware of warning signs, having flexible coping skills, and building effective social support systems

Age: (Miller 155)

• The probability of suicide increases in both males and females as children grow older (155)
• Adolescents ages 15 to 19 being at higher risk than youth ages 10 to 14 (155)

Geography: (Miller 155)

• In the USA, youth suicide rates are and consistently have bene highest in the Western states and Alaska and lowest in the Northeastern states (155)
• This may largely be because of the greater population density in the Northeast compared to many Western states and Alaska (155)
• The sparser population and greater physical isolation in many Western states may lead to a greater social disconnection, a variable associated with suicide (155)
• Consistent with this hypothesis is the finding that suicide rates are typically higher in rural areas than in urban areas (155)

Socioeconomic Status: (Miller 155)

• Although suicide occurs across all economic classes, research suggests there is generally an inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and suicide rates in bot the USA and other countries (155)
• Research on socioeconomic status and youth suicide is lacking, although one study examining the socioeconomic differences among more than 20,000 Danish youth who committed suicide found that individuals in the lowest socioeconomic quartile had more than five times the risk of suicide compared to others (155)

OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

1. Development Questions
2. Demographics of Youth Suicide: Gender, Age,Geography, Socioeconomic StatusYOU ARE HERE!
3. Risk Factors for Suicidal Behavior
4. Warning Signs and Common Myths
5. Exposure to Peer Suicide – Grief
6. Suicide Risk Assessment: Change, Hope,Connection
7. Establishing aConnection: Empathy versus Sympathy
8. Suicide and SocialNetworking Sites
9. Frameworks: ACommunity Based Approach to Preventing Youth Suicide
10. Suicide Intervention and Prevention in Alberta
11. Works Cited