Layoffs Increase Teen Suicide Risk

Today's economy can make it difficult to find an adequate job of any kind and keep it. Companies that are struggling to hold on may have to let go of employees they simply cannot pay. 

Recent findings published in the American Journal of Public Health have found that particularly for teenagers, a job loss can increase the risk of serious health issues. Researchers found that many young people who lost their jobs were at an increased risk of suicide.

"Job loss can be an unanticipated shock to a community," said lead study author Anna Gassman-Pines, who teaches public policy at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy and is a faculty fellow of the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy, in a news release. "We know that suicide increases among adults when communities are hit with widespread layoffs. Now we have evidence that teenagers are similarly affected."

Findings revealed that suicide plans rose, particularly among female and black teenagers. More specifically, while about 1 percent of America's working population has lost their job, findings revealed that suicide-related behaviors have increased by 2 to 3 percentage points, in the aforementioned groups.

"We know that suicide increases among adults when communities are hit with widespread layoffs," added said Gassman-Pines. "Now we have evidence that teenagers are similarly affected."

For the study, researchers examined a nationally representative survey of 403,457 U.S. adolescents from 1997 to 2009.

They also studied mass layoffs and closings across all 50 states and the District of Columbia via data from the federal Bureau of Labour Statistics. In addition, researchers took certain factors such as poverty and overall unemployment rate into account.

Study results showed that economic hardship seems to have worsened for women; suicide rates were higher among teenage girls than male counterparts. Suicide attempts were also more common among black teens than other races.

As suicide remains the third leading cause of death in the country for youth between the ages of 10 and 24, researchers hope  further investigation can determine more about the underlying workings of this health issue.