CURRY CHANDLER
Staff Writer
One of the basic tenets of journalism is that the profession is concerned with the five Ws: who, what, where, when and why. Concerning teenage suicide, the answers to the who, what, where and when are known, but the why remains unanswered. Suicide among young Americans has skyrocketed, definitively capping a lengthy period of abatement in suicide rates that held throughout the 1990s, according to a report released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The overall suicide rate for 10 to 24-year-olds had its biggest jump in 15 years, rising 8 percent from 2003 to 2004. It is too soon to tell whether this is an anomaly or the beginning of a new status quo.
The CDC report draws special attention to young American girls. It shows the national suicide rate for preteen and teen girls rose 76 percent in the past decade. Of that group, the greatest increase in suicides belongs to 10 to 14-year-old girls. That age group had 56 suicides in 2003, and 96 in 2004, a 71 percent increase.
It is the early years of the New American Century, and there is an insatiable thirst to be number one, regardless of the cost.
As if the CDC report lacked sufficient morbidity already, it also found fluctuation in youngster’s method of choice for suicide. Suicide by gun comprised more than half of young female suicides in 1990. As of 2004, death by hanging and suffocation constituted 71 percent of suicides in girls aged 10 to 14, roughly half of girls aged 15 to 19, and 34 percent of girls ages 20 to 24.
CDC officials were struck by the change, though stopped short of labeling hanging a new “trend” in America. Some speculated that hanging and suffocation were simply the most “accessible” means of suicide for people in that demographic.
There are plenty of statistics in the CDC report, but what does any of it actually mean? The statistics may elucidate the who, what, where and so on, but that leaves the heaviest of all: why. Why are young girls hanging themselves in such numbers?
Is this generation marred by hopelessness? The Americans are so soused in fear and paranoia that they are waging all out war on terror itself. Their once and future leaders are on TV explaining that the planet is melting and our purchasing habits had better change or there will be no more Christmas, ever.
These aren’t the only messages being streamed into the collective subconscious, however. If there’s one thing that the U.S. cultural mythology makes clear, it is that there are Winners and there are Losers. Tune in to your favorite primetime sitcom any night of week, but don’t go to the bathroom during the commercials. Pay attention to the adverts. You’ll pick up the message sure enough.
As mentioned earlier, the greatest increase in the suicide rate belonged to 10-to-14 year old girls. What rational sense can be made of such senseless tragedy, and where to look for cause? Round up the usual suspects.
A Sept. 7 editorial from The New York Times posits it may have something to do with regulatory warnings in the United States and the Netherlands that antidepressants might lead to an increased suicide risk in young people. Following the implementation of the cautionary measures both countries experienced drops in antidepressant prescriptions for children and adolescents, and an increase in suicide rates.
There’s a long list of possible influencing factors, just pick something.
Maybe it’s living daily with a perpetually elevated threat level, and the realization that war never ends. Maybe it’s the looming shadow of a global economic slow down. Maybe it’s $10 per ticket at the local multiplex, which is showcasing a revolving roster of spin-offs. Maybe it’s the replacement of mainstream news with tabloid media. Maybe it’s because modern life in our individualistic culture is secluded and alienated; the emotionally acute state of depression and despondency connoted with the postmodern condition and anomie. Maybe it’s rap music and violent video games. Maybe.
09-13-2007