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It is difficult for adults to understand what would motivate a young person to take his/her own life. We recognize changes in the behavior of the youths in our lives but we tend to see them as part of the emotional upheaval of adolescence.
We see the behavior as a way to get attention or just something they are going through, a phase that will pass. For most youths this is true. For some, however, the pain is so great, suicide seems to be the only reasonable solution.
So how can we help our young people through this turbulent time? The first thing we need to do is to be well informed ourselves about the Silent Epidemic of youth suicide.
The Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System is a survey, conducted by the Centers of Disease Control, that includes national, state, and local school-based representative samples of 9 th through 12 th grade students.
The purpose is to monitor priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth in the United States.
The surveys are conducted every two years to determine the prevalence of these health risk behaviors. Behaviors that contribute to unhealthy lifestyles and those that indicate possible depression and/or suicidal ideation are included. www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/index.htm