Suicide Rate for Black Children Doubles

Researchers were shocked to find that suicide rates among black children between ages 5 to 11 have almost doubled in 25 years, while the rate for white kids has plummeted. A new study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics found for the first time a higher suicide rate for blacks than for whites. “I was shocked, I’ll be honest with you,” said Jeffrey Bridge, at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio. “I looked at it and I thought, ‘Did we do the analysis correctly?’ I thought we had made a mistake.” The jump is thought to be related to violence and traumatic stress and early-onset puberty.