Teen Suicides Spike In U.S. In Last Few Years

Suicides among teenagers in the U.S. have been stedily declining since the mid 1990's but in the last few years there has been a spike according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In 1996 the CDC recorded that the rate of teen suicides in the U.S. (young Americans between age 10-19) was about 5.5 per 100,000 people. By 1998 it had dropped to 5.2 per 100,000. By 2000 it had fallen to 4.7 per 100,000. By 2003 it dropped to 4.1 per 100,000. In 2004 there was a sharp rise recorded and the rate increased to nearly 4.8 per 100,000. By 2005 it had fallen slightly to 4.5 per 100,000.
The CDC believes that some of the factors for this rise may have to do with a link between anti depressants and teen suicides. They also believe that it may be due to an increase in alcohol consumption among teens and the easy access that many teens have to guns. What the CDC did not mention at all is the possiblility that The war in Iraq may have had something to do with it. 2004 was the first full year that the U.S. was involved in the war in Iraq. All the news out of Baghdad about how the war was going that year was bad and depressing. It may not have been a coincidence that a spike in teen suicides occured that same year. As many adult parents of teens know they can be overly emotional about matters both large and small and therefore more seriously effected by bad news than others in the population who are older, wiser, and more emotionally mature. I merely throw out this thought to cogitate as a possibility and an additional factor to the reasons cited by the CDC for the sharp rise in teen suicides in 2004.