*Black teenagers in the United States have historically had lower suicide rates than whites. But a new study finds there’s a rise in Black teens attempting suicide in recent years.
Researchers at New York University found that between 1991 and 2017, there was an increase in the number of Black youths who attempted suicide, and they don’t know why, per NBC News.
“Are there different social pressures now? Is social media a factor? Is it the political climate?” said Dr. Ken Duckworth, medical director of the nonprofit National Alliance on Mental Illness. “We’re going to need more research to understand this.”
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Black male children ages 5-12 are committing suicide at rates higher than any other racial group, according to NYU’s McSilver Institute. Suicide rates for African American teens have also increased dramatically. https://t.co/xhq6ZQbKZK
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 12, 2019
T-Kea Blackman, now 29, survived a suicide attempt at age 24, and she has since dedicated her life to helping others cope with depression and mental health issues, the report states.
“I couldn’t suppress these thoughts anymore,” she recalls. “I had thought about ending my life for eight straight months. I texted a friend and said, ‘It would be better if I wasn’t here.’ That friend did not know that I had already taken substances in the hope that I would go to sleep and not wake up. And while I was waiting to die, the police showed up.”
via nbc.com:
A recent study in the Journal of Community Health showed that suicide rates among black girls ages 13-19 nearly doubled from 2001 to 2017. For black boys in the same age group, over the same period, rates rose 60 percent.
Additionally, for children ages 5 to 12, black males are committing suicide at higher rates than any other racial or ethnic group, said Dr. Michael Lindsey, the executive director of New York University’s McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research.
“If suicide was a black phenomenon and all of a sudden there was an uptick in white kids committing suicide, there would be a national outcry,” Lindsey said on a panel, “Mental Health: A Hidden Crisis in Schools?” at this year’s Education Writers Association national conference.
Blackman says she works to connect people battling with mental illness to the resources they need.
“There are many signs if someone is having a mental health crisis,” she says, “and the major ones for children is if they begin to withdraw from regular activities, or if their grades begin to suffer. Another thing, if they start giving away possessions. Also, please monitor their social media, because sometimes it’s there that you will see what they’re going through.”
But her most vital advice to parents is not to dismiss your child’s emotions.
“Parents too often dismiss what their child is saying about how they are feeling,” Blackman said. “They say, ‘Oh, you have a roof over your head and clothes on your back. … You don’t have any real responsibilities.”
“We still pass down generation trauma,” Blackman said. “Depression is a disease, just like diabetes.”
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