4 Troubled Teens Blog

Teens who change residences frequently are more likely to commit suicide, according to a new study from Denmark.

Dr. Ping Qin of Aarhus University identified 4,160 children who had attempted suicide from 1995 to 2006, and another 79 who actually killed themselves:

• Dr. Qin matched each child with another of the same sex and age who had never attempted suicide.
• Of the first group, 55 percent had changed residences more than three times, compared to 33 percent of the control group.
• Among the suicidal group, 7.4 percent had moved more than 10 times, compared to only 1.9 percent of the controls.
• Teens and pre-teens who moved six to 10 times were three times more likely to complete a suicide.

"The breakdown of connections with peers, discontinuation of group activities, distress, and worries related to the new environment are potentially psychologically distressing events for young children," the authors concluded in a report published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry. "Frequent exposures to these events can be stressful and confusing and may affect their psychosocial well-being, thus increasing their intention toward ending their life if they are unable to cope."

Labels: teen_suicide

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In recent months, three children in the Manitoba, Canada, area have committed suicide, and there is evidence that many more have tried to kill themselves. Government officials in the remote Indian reserve of Pukatawagan say more than two dozen other teens have committed suicide in the last year.

[Sandi] Rhodes [Pukatawagan Director of Education] along with Chief Arlen Dumas and the band council, wrote to Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and to Health Canadas First Nation and Inuit Health Branch this month, begging for more access to long-term counseling, a suicide-prevention curriculum in schools, clinical experts, grief counselors, and training for teachers ... (Source: Winnipeg Free Press)

Federal and provincial governments in Canada had fast-tracked a suicide prevention program that included a healing center, but the program ended after two years, when funding ran out.

Teen suicide remains a problem in the United States as well as in Canada. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide is the third leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 15 and 24, and is the fourth leading cause of death for children between the ages of 10 and 14.

Labels: suicide, teen_suicide

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