Youth suicide - latest figures

A report into youth suicides between 1997 and 2003 has found that suicide rates for 10-19 year-olds fell by 28% between the two years. More boys than girls killed themselves and 15-19 year-olds were more likely to commit suicide than 10-14-year-olds. However, only 14% of the youths who killed themselves had been in contact with mental-health services, and only 12% of boys. Those youths who had been in contact with mental-health services and subsequently killed themselves were characterised by a diagnosis of affective disorder, a history of mental illness, 'residential instability', self-harm and substance abuse. Over half of the suicides lived with their parents but only a fifth were in full-time education.

Windfuhr, Kirsten ... [et al] - Suicide in juveniles and adolescents in the United Kingdom Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry November 2008, 49(11), 1155-1165