Suicide rates among U.S. kids ages 8 to 12 have been “significantly” increasing by 8.2% since 2008, according to researchers with the National Institutes of Health. Preteen girls had a disproportionate increase in suicide rate compared to male preteens.

by Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D.

Suicide rates among U.S. kids ages 8 to 12 have been rising by 8.2% since 2008, according to researchers with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Suicide has now become the fifth leading cause of death among both female and male preteens, said the team led by Donna Ruch, Ph.D., from the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

The researchers published their findings on July 30 in JAMA Network Open. The study was funded by NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse, and by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Ruch and her team analyzed preteen suicide records from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from Jan. 1, 2001, to Dec. 31, 2022.

“Following a downward trend until 2007,” they wrote in their report, “suicide rates significantly increased 8.2% annually from 2008 to 2022.”

Credit: Ruch DA, Horowitz LM, Hughes JL, et al.

Lisa Horowitz, Ph.D., director of Patient Safety and Quality for the National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program and co-author of the study, told Reuters, “It’s surprising to see the growing trend in young people.”

Preteens are exposed to social media, which has an impact on their mental health, Horowitz said.

“The speed at which things happen has just ramped up, so there’s no respite from stressors,” she added.

Pretreen suicide rare yet a ‘significant public health concern’

Overall, preteen suicides are very rare but still represent a “significant public health concern,” said Ruch and her team.

Between 2001 and 2007, there were 3.3 cases per 1 million preteens, Ruch’s team noted. By 2022, the number had risen to 5.7 per 1 million.

Experts in recent years have been sounding the alarm about the rise in preteen suicides, reported U.S. News & World Report.

In 2021, the National Institute of Mental Health convened a research roundtable series to address the rising rates of suicide in preteens, Ruch and colleagues noted.

Ruch and her team did not analyze possible underlying causes of the increase but said their study provides a “foundation for future research to explore unique factors associated with preteen suicide.”

 

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Suicides among preteen girls especially on the rise

For the study, Ruch and her team examined suicide deaths overall and by sex, race, ethnicity, suicide method, metropolitan or non-metropolitan area, and region.

They found female preteens had a disproportionate increase in suicide rate compared to male preteens.

“Suicide was the 11th leading cause of death in female preteens between 2001 and 2007,” they said, “and the 5th leading cause of death between 2008 and 2022, while suicide in male preteens ranked consistently as the 5th leading cause of death.”

While Black preteens had the highest suicide rates between 2001 and 2007 and between 2008 and 2022, Hispanic preteens had the highest percentage increase.

“These findings highlight a need to better understand suicide risk among racial and ethnic subgroups, including multiracial individuals who comprise the fastest-growing racial group in the US,” the study’s authors wrote.

Hanging or suffocation were the most common suicide methods. However, firearms were the most rapidly increasing method.

Ruch and her colleagues did not say in their report whether they found significant differences between geographic regions or when comparing urban to non-urban areas.

The Defender reached out to Ruch and Horowitz for comment but they were unable to respond by our deadline.