"In adolescents, depressed mood is common because of the normal maturation process, the stress associated with it, the influence of sex hormones, and independence conflicts with parents."
I am unsure of the scope of this problem, they do state that in 2000, 8 in 100,000 teens committed suicide. That's 0.008% yearly. Now this doesn't seem like much, but after finding that the teen death rate in 2000 as a total was 67 in 100,000 teens, it seems to make a bit more sense. It accounted for about 12% of teen deaths. While there may be other problems around, it does appear that teen suicide is pretty serious.
There are also warnings on the website that alcohol or drug use can increase the risk of suicide. Also they say that a history of violence or abuse in the family can contribute. This makes me wonder what we can do to reduce the percentage of teen suicide. Would controlling these catalyst issues have a reasonable effect on the rate? Would stricter policing of substances significantly effect depression and suicide, and could schools target kids that are at a higher risk because of their home life, and enroll them in special programs?
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