Suicide Trends in School-Aged Children Reveal Racial Disparity

While suicide rates in children younger than 12 have remained steady for the past 20 years, a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics is the first to observe higher suicide rates among black children.

Led by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s, the National Institute of Mental Health and The Ohio State University, the report’s analysis showed that suicide ranked 14th as a cause of death among 5- to 11-year-old black children from 1993-1997 but rose to ninth from 2008-2012. For white children, suicide ranked 12th from 1993-1997 and 11th from 2008-2012. Rates have remained stable in Hispanic children and children of other races.