Tragically, the rates of suicide death among young people have drastically increased over the past decade. In fact, 25.5% of young adults ages 18–24 reported having seriously considered suicide in the past month. And due to a phenomenon called suicide contagion, one person’s suicide can trigger others to make an attempt. These clusters of youth suicides may occur around the same time—perhaps after a celebrity’s death by suicide—or may take place within a school or city.
Recently, students at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls returned to a somber spring semester after a fourth student died by suicide in less than two months. Although the deaths were not related, the cluster of suicides can cause a contagion effect, and students across the campus can be impacted. University officials are proactively working to prevent more tragedies, which are all too possible when young people are living in a close community.
It’s hard to believe that such a dangerous and potentially fatal act as a suicide attempt could be contagious. However, records of suicide contagion go as far back as the 1700s. And a large body of research has yielded proof that teen and young adult suicide can “spread” like other types of epidemics.
What Is Suicide Contagion?
Suicide contagion is also referred to as “copycat suicides.” It refers to an increase in the likelihood that a suicide death or attempt will prompt more suicidal behavior or deaths by suicide within the same school, community, or geographic area.
Sometimes, suicide contagion occurs in response to the suicide of a peer or family member. It can also happen in response to a celebrity suicide. Suicide contagion often coincides with media reports about suicide. It’s most prevalent among teenagers and young adults who are already at risk of suicide or suicidal behavior.
Spikes in the number of suicides are called suicide clusters. Point clusters are clusters of suicides centered in communities where people are directly exposed to the suicide of a classmate, friend, or family member. Mass clusters are clusters of suicides that seem to occur from indirect exposure to suicide. Such exposure might include media reports about a celebrity suicide or the suicide of a fictional character in a movie or TV show.
Statistics on Teen and Young Adult Suicide
In Minnesota, suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 10 to 24, with 20 to 24 years having the highest suicide rates among different age groups. The suicide rate for adolescents and young adults in Minnesota is consistently higher than the national rate at 15.5%.
In a 2019 Minnesota Student Survey,16% of female students, 8% of male students, and 42% of nonbinary/transgender students reported either seriously considering suicide or attempting in the last year—that’s over 15,000 students.
The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in an increase in youth suicide. But suicide rates were on the rise even before the pandemic. Between 2010 and 2020, suicide rates in US adolescents increased by 62 percent, from 3.9 to 6.3 per 100,000. Moreover, a recent study tracked a 22 percent increase in the number of visits to emergency departments for youth suicide attempts and an 8 percent increase in visits for suicidal ideation.
This uptick is echoed in a CDC Youth Behavior Risk Survey tracking trends over the past 10+ years. The survey found in 2021 that 22 percent of high school students seriously considered suicide. That’s 1 in 3 teenage girls and 1 in 7 teenage boys. In fact, 30 percent of female students seriously considered suicide in 2021 compared to 19 percent in 2011.
In a Healthy Minds study, 530 colleges and universities across the country reported an increase in depression in the last 10 years. Of those students, about 41 percent have reported symptoms of depression—double the amount from a decade ago. In 2023, 14.4% of college students reported they have suicide ideation, and 12.5% have suicide attempts.
Research on the Youth Suicide Contagion Effect
The suicide contagion effect is real. More common among young people, suicide clusters account for 1 to 5 percent of teen suicides in the United States, according to the CDC. Young people with a friend or family member who died by suicide are at significantly higher risk of suicide than those without.
Likewise, a study by the American Association of Suicidology found that the risk of suicide among 15- to 19-year-olds is two to four times higher following exposure to another person’s suicide. And the effects can linger. Exposure to a schoolmate’s suicide attempts or death can affect suicidal ideation among youth two years after the fact.
Moreover, suicide research shows that acquaintances and friends who aren’t as close to the deceased are at greater risk of suicidal behavior. That might be because they typically receive less support than close friends and family members.
Not surprisingly, publicity surrounding suicides has been repeatedly and definitively linked to a subsequent increase in death by suicide, especially among young people. Research finds an increase in suicide when a higher proportion of the population is exposed. The risk of suicide contagion also goes up when the frequency and prominence of the news reports increase and when the headlines are dramatic.
Examples of Teen and Young Adult Suicide Contagion
Suicide contagion isn’t a new phenomenon. One of the earliest suicide clusters occurred back in 1774. Upon publication of the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Wolfgang von Goethe, about 40 young people died by suicide in a similar way to the book’s main character. This spate of suicides led to the banning of the book in countries like Italy and Denmark.
Other examples of teen suicide contagion have occurred in the United States much more recently. Between 2009 and 2010, six teens died by suicide in the affluent town of Palo Alto, home of Stanford University. Four more died by suicide there between October of 2014 and March of 2015. Fairfax County, Virginia, experienced 16 youth suicides in 2014. Other clusters have occurred in Colorado Springs, Colorado (2017), and Salt Lake City, Utah (2018).
Suicide contagion has also been tracked among soldiers, many of whom are young adults. A 2017 study found that the risk of suicide attempts among US Army soldiers increased as the number of suicide attempts in their unit went up.
Why Teens Are at Risk for Suicide Contagion
Teenagers are more vulnerable than other age groups to contagious suicide. This may be because young people identify more strongly with their peers. In addition, adolescence is a period of increased vulnerability to mental disorders, which can elevate suicide risk.
College students often live close to other students, increasing the risk of a suicide cluster. Colleges and universities build a communal identity that can lead to strong student connections. Young adults can be easily influenced by others, which increases the risk of contagion when a suicide attempt or death has occurred.
Moreover, teenage and young adult brains aren’t fully mature. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for impulse control, emotional reactions, the ability to ignore external distractions, and complex decision-making. These functions are still developing during high school and college years. As a result, young people can be moody and impulsive. They have difficulty returning from a situation or emotion to see the long view.
What’s Underneath Youth Suicide Contagion and High Suicide Rates?
Few young people make a suicide attempt on a whim. Risk factors must be present, particularly the presence of mental health disorders. About 90 percent of people who died by suicide have suffered from at least one mental disorder. For females, depression is the most common suicide cause. For males, substance abuse, specifically alcohol misuse, is associated with suicide risk.
The World Health Organization reports that 1 in 7 (14 percent) of 10 to 19-year-olds experience a mental disorder. In the US, 16 percent of adolescents experience major depression, per 2023 teen depression statistics from Mental Health America (MHA). Yet many mental health conditions remain unrecognized and untreated. In the United States, 60 percent of youth with major depression do not receive any mental health treatment, according to MHA.
When a high school student has a preexisting mental health condition, whether they receive treatment or not, they can be at a higher risk of suicide. Environmental stressors in college, such as academic demands, moving away from family, and financial struggles, can make depression symptoms worse. Learning the signs of suicide risk can be a life-saving skill to ensure young people get the treatment they need to manage their symptoms.
10 Signs of Suicide Risk
Before a suicide attempt, a young person may engage in suicidal ideation. Also referred to as suicidal thoughts, suicide ideation may range from thinking about dying with no real intent to creating a specific suicide plan.
Warning signs include:
- Withdrawal from friends, family, and usual activities
- Changes in sleep or appetite patterns
- Increased alcohol or drug abuse
- Giving away belongings, including treasured objects
- Unnecessary risk-taking
- Extreme mood swings
- Believing they are a burden to others
- Saying they feel trapped and that there’s no way out
- Obsession with death and dying, talking about wanting to die
- Hinting at suicide, such as, “I won’t be a problem much longer,” or “If anything happens to me …”
If you or someone you love is experiencing suicidal thoughts, go to the nearest ER or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
PrairieCare also offers the Family First Admissions Process, where parents and patients over 18 can call 952-826-8475 to start immediate care at our inpatient hospital for anyone 35 years and younger. Learn about our inpatient hospital and how this accelerated admissions process works.
Preventing Youth Suicide Contagion
Learning of a young person’s suicide can traumatize an entire community. Vulnerable adolescents and young adults in the deceased’s neighborhood, school, place of worship, and beyond may feel particularly disturbed by the news. Preventing suicide contagion requires proactive steps by those who surround them.
What Helping Professionals Can Do
Helping professionals are an essential person in suicide prevention. QPR, or Question, Persuade, and Refer, is a simple three-step process that can save someone’s life who is displaying warning signs of suicide. Like CPR, QPR helps stabilize someone until they can get medical treatment for their symptoms.
Use QPR in the following steps:
- A person recognizes someone is experiencing warning signs of a mental health crisis
- Question the individual’s desire or intent regarding suicide
- Persuade the person to seek and accept help
- Refer the person to the appropriate resources
QPR allows you to identify and interrupt a crisis someone is experiencing to help them get the care they need. By recognizing the early signs of a crisis, you can have an open dialogue with the person, connect them with appropriate care, and prevent emergency room visits.
What Schools Can Do
Schools are a central element of suicide prevention. Teachers, mental health professionals, and all personnel who interface with students can help reduce teen suicide risk and suicide death. A comprehensive approach is required. Schools can help identify students at risk and create reliable response channels when a suicide risk is identified, or a suicide death occurs.
Therefore, schools should have comprehensive suicide prevention policies in place. They also should require annual training for all staff and offer mental health presentations to parents and students. They can even form suicide prevention task forces to be on the lookout for students at risk. Finally, schools can post suicide warning signs with national crisis hotline numbers and information about whom students can contact if they or someone they know might be suicidal.
What Parents Can Do
It’s important that suicide is not a taboo subject in the home. Parents and other caregivers should check in with their children, letting them know it’s safe to express sad and uncomfortable feelings. If a young person in the community has died by suicide, parents shouldn’t emphasize the method of suicide. But they can explain that the young person who died was struggling with a mental health problem.
They can also let teens and young adults know that if they or their peers are contemplating suicide, a mental health professional can help. They can help teens access professional support and make sure they know that they can reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988.
Suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior should never be ignored. Young people at risk of suicide need support. Parents or caregivers must be involved in their care, so teens and young adults know they’re not alone.
Treatment for Depression and Suicidal Behavior
At PrairieCare, youth at risk of suicide benefit from an integrated treatment approach that goes beyond the immediate crisis. Our mental health treatment spans the full continuum of care for children, adolescents, and young adults with depression. We provide intensive care, such as inpatient hospitalization and residential treatment, and various outpatient programs to fit each patient’s needs. Our multidisciplinary care teams create an individualized treatment plan for each patient that focuses on processing past trauma, building healthy living skills, and healing the causes of suicidal ideation.
Contact us today at 952-826-8475 to learn more about our treatment in Minnesota and access a no-cost mental health screening. We are proud to walk alongside youth in their mental health journey to build a hopeful future.