Suicide rates rising among Canadian girls: study
Suicide rates for female teens and pre-teens in Canada rose over the past few decades even though the overall number of youths who took their own lives was dropping, according to a Canadian study that covered nearly 30 years.
Researchers whose findings were published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal also noted a change in the preferred methods of suicide, from guns or poisons to suffocation by strangulation.
“Our message is that all suicide is a tragedy and the trend is very disturbing,” said lead author Robin Skinner, an epidemiologist with the Public Health Agency of Canada in Ottawa.
In 1980, 0.6 per 100,000 girls between the ages of 10 to 14 committed suicide, rising to 0.9 per 100,000 in 2008. But among girls 15 to 19 years old, the rate rose from 3.7 per 100,000 in 1980 to 6.2 per 100,000 in 2008.
Overall, suicide is the second leading cause of death for Canadians between 10 and 19 years old, after accidents.
Skinner told Reuters Health there was a small improvement in suicide rates for all Canadians in that age group between 1980 and 2008.
Whereas 6.2 of every 100,000 young Canadians killed themselves in 1980, the rate fell to 5.2 per 100,000 in 2008 - in general, a 1 percent annual decline over nearly three decades.
In 1980, a total of 249 males and 50 females between ages 10 to 19 committed suicide in Canada, according to the study. By 2008, that number had fallen to 156 for males but rose to 77 for females.
The researchers noted it’s possible that youth suicides may be underreported because of the chance deaths may be misclassified as “unintentional.” The researchers also noted that some children or adolescents who die playing the “choking game” may be misclassified as having committed suicide, but limited evidence suggests this likely doesn’t account for any significant rise in reported suicide rates.
Ms. Skinner and Steven McFaull, also with PHAC, suggest the rising prevalence of social media could influence suicide trends in youth suicide.
Social media makes it easier than ever for young people to share their thoughts and connect with others, which isn’t always a positive thing. Cyberbullying, when people receive hurtful and even threatening messages online, has become a serious problem across Canada. There are also countless websites where users can share suicidal thoughts and even instructions on how to kill themselves.
The group found there was no significant change in the suicide rate for boys 10 to 14 years old. In 2008, 1.6 per 100,000 committed suicide. But the rate for those aged 15 to 19 fell considerably, from 19 per 100,000 in 1980 to 6.2 per 100,000 in 2008.
The study did not examine why the rates for girls increased over the 28-year period, or why that of boys dropped, but they did point out a steady rise among both sexes in deaths by suffocation.
Previous research has found that young people perceive hanging to be a “clean, quick and painless method” of suicide, according to the authors.
In addition, they write, a so-called “hocking game” has grown in popularity among kids and teens during the study period. It involves either strangling the throat or applying pressure to the chest to achieve euphoria from oxygen deprivation.
Although the study presents some concerning data, Ian Manion, executive director of the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health, says it also contains important clues about what Canada has been doing right.
Suicide rates among youth in Canada rose steadily from the 1970s to the1990s, when increases slowed, Dr. Manion said. That coincides with the time when more resources and attention were being dedicated to tackling youth suicide and breaking the stigma, he said.
While this could help explain the decline in suicides among young males, it also raises questions about why suicide rates in females haven’t dropped and what needs to be done about it.
Dr. Manion says the trend could be explained in part by the fact more females are being affected by substance abuse or behavioural issues, problems traditionally associated with males.
“The ‘game’ can turn deadly if the participant being choked is physiologically susceptible or if the pressure is not released quickly enough after the loss of consciousness,” Skinner’s team wrote.
“Deaths resulting from the ‘choking game’ have the potential to be misclassified as suicides, especially when the ‘game’ is played alone.”
A commentary by Laurence Kirmayer, of the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal, that accompanied the study suggested the increase in suicides among girls might be explained by the more lethal methods being used to attempt suicide in general.
“Girls tended to use poisoning not gunshots, hanging is potentially more lethal than poisoning, partly because people often use sublethal doses of pills or other substances,” he told Reuters Health in an email.
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SOURCE: Suicide among children and adolescents in Canada: trends and sex differences, 1980–2008
Our results show that suicide rates in Canada are increasing among female children and adolescents and decreasing among male children and adolescents. Limiting access to lethal means has some potential to mitigate risk. However, suffocation, which has become the predominant method for committing suicide for these age groups, is not amenable to this type of primary prevention.
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Robin Skinner,
Steven McFaull
CMAJ April 2, 2012 First published April 2, 2012, doi: 10.1503/cmaj.111867
Canadian Medical Association or its licensors