The gender gap in teenage suicide is narrowing, showing an alarming increase in suicides among girls. The suicide death rates of boys and girls ages 10-14 almost evened out between 2018-2024, Axios reported last week.
Previously, data showed boys experienced the highest suicide death rates, with girls beginning to contemplate suicide more frequently. Suicide was the second leading cause of death among 10- to 14-year-olds from 2018 to 2024, according to a JAMA Pediatrics study. Additionally, suicide death rates for one- to 27-year-olds between 2014-2024 increased in most states, growing to almost 20%, showing an increase from 13.8 suicides per 100,000 people to 16.4.
“The rapidly narrowing gender gap in suicide among children ages 10 to 14 is especially alarming: the suicide rate among girls has more than quadrupled since 2007, and by 2024, the rate among boys was only 4% higher,” David Closson, director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council, told The Washington Stand.
Jean Twenge, a psychologist and author of the research, told Axios that statistical changes are “a bit of a mystery.” Twenge believes that possible reasons behind the explosive rise in female suicides may be that girls were not adequately impacted by school suicide prevention programs, the unachievable beauty standards in society, and social media.
“We know from a lot of research that the association between time spent on social media, depression, self-harm, and other mental health issues is stronger for girls than for boys, and girls also spend more time on social media,” Twenge remarked. She also shared that “other research she has studied found that Black and Latina girls have the highest rates of social media use, which could be contributing to the trend.”
Closson said that while there is ongoing research to understand the causes for suicide, such a complex mental health crisis should not be reduced to a single explanation. “These numbers reveal a generation struggling with profound loneliness, anxiety, and despair,” he observed. “Our culture tells young people, especially girls immersed in social media, that they must construct their own identity, secure the approval of others, and find their value in appearance, achievement, or online attention. That is an unbearable burden for a child to carry.”
var images = [],
index = 0;
images[0] = ““;
images[1] = ““;
images[2] = ““;
images[3] = ““;
index = Math.floor(Math.random() * images.length);
document.write(images[index]);
//done
