Black youth suicide rates continue to climb. What to know

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10 to 19 years old. And the suicide death rate among Black kids has been increasing faster than any racial and ethnic group, according to "Ring the Alarm: The Crisis of Black Youth Suicide in America," a 2020 report commissioned by the Congressional Black Caucus.

For Black kids, the suicide death rate more than doubled from 2007 to 2017, jumping from 2.55 per 100,000 to 4.82 per 100,000, according to the report. This alarming trend challenges the perception that Black kids and teens don't attempt suicide, the authors noted. Historically, older, white men were at the highest risk for suicide. But, as this report explains, the trend is shifting as more Black kids attempt and die by suicide. Journalists have a responsibility to cover that shift.

"The narrowing racial gap in suicide rates tells us that this emergent issue among Black youth warrants attention now," the report reads. "A cadre of Black researchers from across the United States has been ringing the alarm to raise awareness about this disturbing trend."

Suicide is a public health problem and there is not enough coverage of the increasing risk posed to Black kids. Reporting on suicide requires care to avoid causing harm. This means you should report on suicide as a public health issue. Highlight prevention efforts, provide accurate facts and data, confront myths, share stories from people who have survived and recovered and point to effective prevention strategies like safe storage of firearms and robust mental health services.

A closer look at the data

The Congressional Black Caucus report highlights several key data points. Black youth under the age of 13 are twice as likely to die by suicide. Black boys ages 5 to 11 are more likely than their white peers to die by suicide, according to research cited in the report.

The suicide rate among boys and girls under 13 is two times higher for Black children compared to whites, according to a study the report references.

From 1991 to 2017, suicide attempts rose by 73% for Black kids, according to a study based on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a CDC national school survey of adolescent health behaviors. Injuries from attempts rose by 122% for Black boys during that 26-year period.

Despite these findings, "very few research dollars have been committed by entities such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)" to investigate why this is happening, the report says.

Addressing mental health care needs

The Black Caucus established the Emergency Task Force on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health in 2019 to identify causes and solutions for Black youth suicide and mental health needs The goal was also to produce a report describing the latest research, practices and policy recommendations.

Since that report came out in 2020, the problem hasn't gone away. A study from Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions found the suicide rate among Black youth has continued to rise. The study, "Still Ringing the Alarm: An Enduring Call to Action for Black Youth Suicide Prevention," highlights the role of firearms, the second most common suicide method used by Black kids. For Black boys under the age of 19, firearms are the most common method.

Their report also found that Black youth have the fastest growing suicide rate compared to their peers. Between 2007 and 2020, the suicide rate among Black youth ages 10-17 increased by 144%, according to Johns Hopkins.

"Access to firearms, along with police violence and community violence, only serve to compound the crisis and put Black youth at greater risk of suicide," the Center says in the report. "Significant investment in suicide prevention research and the expansion of mental health services are critical steps toward addressing Black youth suicide and saving lives."

Recommendations and story ideas

Both reports outlined several recommendations for prevention and called for more research to better understand this crisis. There are also several story ideas within these recommendations.

• Ensure community organizations and Black researchers have access to research, data and funding.
  • Story idea: Write about these organizations and their efforts. Who are the Black researchers digging into this issue? What solutions have they identified in their work?
• Increase funding for suicide prevention research.
  • Story idea: How much funding is available for suicide research? Are there funds being made specifically available for researching suicide among Black kids and adults?
• Make mental health services widely available and accessible.
  • Story idea: What mental health services exist specifically for Black kids and adults?
• Create and support safe spaces for Black youth, such as in churches, through peer and family support and within schools and activities. Encourage counseling on access to lethal methods, especially on firearms.
  • Story idea: What do these safe spaces look like? How are churches engaging on this issue?
• Support suicide prevention organizations.
  • Find and profile suicide prevention groups. Have they noticed this trend? I wrote about a hotline in St. Louis that is for teens and staffed by teens. The story also highlighted the rise of firearm suicide among the city's Black youth.

Resources

• Sean Joe is a professor of social development at Washington University in St. Louis, studies suicidal behavior among Black men and boys.
• The Suicide Reporting ToolKit provides a three-step model for approaching a story about suicide and sorts out the ethics of reporting on an act of suicide. The model provides examples of suicide narratives, a set of ethical rules emphasizing how not to sensationalize or stigmatize suicide, and a standard of moderation for minimizing harm.
• The Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide is a collaboration between leading experts in suicide prevention and several international suicide prevention and public health organizations, schools of journalism, media organizations and more. The recommendations are based on more than 50 international studies on suicide contagion.
• The CDC offers a list of helpful, general facts about suicide and recommendations for reporters on covering this topic.

If you or someone you know is struggling, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the Crisis Text Line offer help and resources.