Between 1990 to 2003, the suicide rate for adolescents, ages 10 to 24 years, declined 28.5% from 9.48 to 6.70 per 100,000 persons (Suicide Trends Among Youth). Additionally, every 18 minutes, one-person commit suicide (Statistics). Suicide is a serious problem in the United States. Whether in the past or now, suicide is still among the top five leading causes of death in the U.S. From 1990 through1999, teenage suicide was on the rise. At that time, media and experts continuously reported incidents and statistics about adolescents committing suicide, which created a large public panic. This fear was not only affecting their thoughts but caused concerned about the adolescents. According to the article, “The Culture of Fear”, in chapter 3 of his
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The horrendous and grandiloquent statistics also scared the public heavily. At the same time, the rise in teenage suicide also attract the attention of serious reporters and researchers. To debunk the media’s conspiracy of hyping the scare, reporters and researchers did a study about what factors mostly cause the youth to give up on their lives. According to the study and the report, the immediate causes for large number of teenage suicide were stress, relationship, and anxiety; however, the skeptics raised doubts about this founding and found the rate of teens suicide had started to decrease in the mid-1990s. At the same time, they accidentally discovered that guns were the underlying problem with adolescent …show more content…
To debunk the inauthentic statistics which medias had overstated, Catherine Barber, the writer of the article “Trends in Rates and Methods of Suicide” and works on Harvard injury control research center. Barber wrote a report about the declining rate of teenage suicide. She used the Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, and the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System as her references. In Barber’s report, she indicates, “The suicide rate for teens began declining sharply in the mid-90s. During the 10 years 1994-2003, suicides dropped an average of 3.8% annually, or 33% when comparing 1994 with 2003” (Barber). Media constantly spread the irrational fear to the public while the teenage suicide rate started to decline in the mid-1990s. Besides, between 1994 to 2003, the suicide rate had dropped 3.8% every year and 33% dropped within 10 years. Although the percentage of teenage suicide declined significantly, it did not increase substantially as the media led the public to believe. Moreover, Barber also elucidates, “From 1994-2003, the youth suicide rate dropped by about 29%, driven almost exclusively by a drop in firearm suicide” (Barber). The media often exaggerated the rate of teenage suicide;
The horrendous and grandiloquent statistics also scared the public heavily. At the same time, the rise in teenage suicide also attract the attention of serious reporters and researchers. To debunk the media’s conspiracy of hyping the scare, reporters and researchers did a study about what factors mostly cause the youth to give up on their lives. According to the study and the report, the immediate causes for large number of teenage suicide were stress, relationship, and anxiety; however, the skeptics raised doubts about this founding and found the rate of teens suicide had started to decrease in the mid-1990s. At the same time, they accidentally discovered that guns were the underlying problem with adolescent …show more content…
To debunk the inauthentic statistics which medias had overstated, Catherine Barber, the writer of the article “Trends in Rates and Methods of Suicide” and works on Harvard injury control research center. Barber wrote a report about the declining rate of teenage suicide. She used the Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, and the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System as her references. In Barber’s report, she indicates, “The suicide rate for teens began declining sharply in the mid-90s. During the 10 years 1994-2003, suicides dropped an average of 3.8% annually, or 33% when comparing 1994 with 2003” (Barber). Media constantly spread the irrational fear to the public while the teenage suicide rate started to decline in the mid-1990s. Besides, between 1994 to 2003, the suicide rate had dropped 3.8% every year and 33% dropped within 10 years. Although the percentage of teenage suicide declined significantly, it did not increase substantially as the media led the public to believe. Moreover, Barber also elucidates, “From 1994-2003, the youth suicide rate dropped by about 29%, driven almost exclusively by a drop in firearm suicide” (Barber). The media often exaggerated the rate of teenage suicide;