That is a problem all over the US. We have had 2 suicides in this town, both middle age men, good families, etc. I don't think we can point to or blame anyone thing regarding these tragedies. We can only look to our own families, friends and relatives for the signs. Here they hold community/medical meetings and try to encourage anyone to attend.
Personally, I do believe many of the movies, TV Shows, media coverage, are glorified. We cannot blame parents, schools, etc for all, because we are all involved. Drugs do play a part, but again who glorifies this reason. Look at the ads in the magazines etc for pills, again at the social people. Our schools are told--if anyone touches you wrong, tell us and we will protect you. YES I know this is a fact. Many educators plain are not educated enough to handle many of the problems in the schools. YES, that I do know is a fact.
Sorry for the rant, but this is a big sore spot with me. And yes, I do have people in the education field today and for years.
M

I've always thought it was more likely due to the helicopter style of parenting that is so prevalent these days, where the parents hover over their child/ren and make sure everything always goes perfectly for them. These poor kids don't grow up knowing how to deal with failure- that life doesn't always go how you want it, and it isn't always fair- and their coping strategies are limited to non-existent. Then their own non-existence seems like a good idea. Very very sad.

I agree somewhat with Marie. But more so with Colleen in this instance. We are raising a generation of weak willed people who can't handle any failure or perception of it.

The pressure to succeed academically has over taken the building of a whole mentally healthy person.

We don't allow kids to work things out for themselves. Bunch of zero tolerance policies. Little fistfights are between little boys are handled like crime scenes. Any disagreement between two children is "bullying". Some kids reach their teens today without so much as a scraped knee.
Boys are feminized to the point they are allowed to even think like men.Everything has to be "fair" and "equal". Well life doesn't work that way.

Pressure to succeed, pressure to be perfect,micro-managaed lives and a society where free thinking is scorned. There are a lot of kids who don't really belong in college. Why? They got there through sheltered lives and mommy/daddy (but usually mommy) hovering over their homework at the kitchen table. Some are directed into sports to "keep them out of trouble" and "get a scholarship" leading them into little time for developing social skills. Now before everyone jumps on me for this comment let me say I think sports participation is great!! For kids that really enjoy them and aren't directed to make the one sport their lives taking over everything else. I have a friend who did this to her kid. He is still single at 36 (can't keep a girlfriend) and has the social maturity of a teenager he was never allowed to be. When he did have a chance of a cross country scholarship mommy didn't really want him at "that" school. So he stayed home and went to community college. had he gone off to college he may not have coped well at all. All the kid knew was running, academics and trips with his parents. I know a lot of kids being raised like that. It's scary.

That said no one has mentioned the train engineers. They have to live with this for the rest of their lives no matter that there is absolutely nothing they could of done about it. To them I offer my sympathy.

Iowa has had a rash of suicides by teen boys who were bullied at school.
In my town we have had a few adults who did the suicide by train thing.

Suicide by train was at an all time high here over the past year. I read an article about what it is like for the conductor or engineer. Just horrible. They can see the person step or jump onto the tracks but there is no way to stop a train. I suppose people who commit suicide are despondent and not thinking about others. Do they ever think about what it is like for people who see them go to their death or find their dead body? Terrible.

This may sound totally crazy, but I think some of these video games where characters die and then come back to life again has skewed the young people's minds into thinking death is not a permanent thing. Even tame ones like PacMan have the figure dying and then starting another "life" for the next round. Or maybe they think they will be a zombie.

Thank you for bringing out other thoughts. I felt like I vented too much. But I too feel that way. Children and adults need to learn to accept failure if it is really they fault or learn how to dispute it non violent it is not.
We as parents and especially grandparents cannot and should not give our kids everything we did not have as children.

I think there are many causes contributing to youth suicides. First of all, it is glamorized. The kids carry on at funerals, get into a deep funk about it, create memorial locations where they set out flowers and candles and teddy bears for weeks on end, and then immerse themselves into it to the extent that they make it seem like an attractive thing to do in an odd way.

I also think bipolar is often a part of the picture. It often first shows up in teens or twenty-somethings, at the same time when kids first leave home for college dorms across the state. Sometimes it is undiagnosed. Some medications for depression or anxiety or whatever can have suicidal side effects too. Moreover, kids often do not like to take their medications, even when the parents think that the illness is under control.

And with the advent of the internet, bullying can be an unendingly, brutal experience for some kids.

When my son was at NYU, they had so many suicides from the top floor of the dorm that they blocked those windows so that they could not be opened.

And then illegal drugs and alcohol can lead a kid to suicide.

When I grew up, life could be difficult. But we did not have drug addiction as a national scourge, and the internet was unheard of, and so bullying was more limited. Today's kids have so much more to deal with.

I am a strong believer in having procedures at schools for dealing with bullying and other misbehavior. The home and schools and the community need to stand together in teaching each new generation decorum, standards of behavior, and to be kind to others.

No matter how hard we parents may try, we are not perfect. But we do want the best for our kids and, in all honesty, for all kids. But our kids hopefully have had parents who are good enough since PERFECT is impossible. Unfortunately, many kids have parents who aren't even trying, who would never be accused of being helicopter parent(s). And amazingly, many of those kids focus and become great people in spite of all their difficulties.

I am saddened to see such resentment expressed by adults toward today's youth. There are a lot of really neat kids out there who are doing it inspite of circumstances they must overcome.

Hmmm...nobody thinks we're seeing addicts who have failed to shake the drugs?

None of these kids was apt to have been bullied -- all strong, well-liked young men, seemingly successful in school and life. Maybe it was all pretense?

Two had difficult family lives -- parents divorcing in one case.

I could make a case for pressure from high-powered, successful parents -- but that's true of MOST of the families here.

Somewhere I've heard that young men are actually greater *romantics* than girls -- too much high drama along with the testosterone? But, again, that would be true of many.

There is a problem of kids who identify themselves as gay who choose suicide as an option.

One can never know the secrets of another. Some secrets are too much of a burden. Anxiety and depression are the greatest hells you can imagine. I don't begin to judge someone's decision to take their life, other than it's a shame because with correct help it's so treatable. Not everyone has the resources.

You have a point there too, Amy. The highest suicide rate among youth in this country is among those who think they are gay or fear they might be gay.

it would be interesting to compare today's stats with those of the great depression....

Another thing I thought of is due to the RE market, lack of jobs, how many families are living together--that is grandparents, parents, and young people. In some societies, that is the norm but not usually in the US now. Lack of space, grandparents not in good health and trying to control or needed to babysit All of us need our own space. Susanjf if we could find the stats from the depression era to compare.

I only think I'm open minded. My first thought on hearing of our neighbor's suicide was that he was a gay son in a strongly Catholic family. I brushed it aside.

This boy killed himself in late summer, just before the start of school.

I notice I've posted that all of these boys were *beautiful*. Sometimes something is right in front of you, but you don't allow yourself to see it.

Doesn't 'shaming' belong to a long-ago society?