Suicide now leading cause of death among children aged 10 to 14 in Japan

Re:Suicide now leading cause of death among children aged 10... by analognoise on Saturday March 23, 2019 @02:41AM (#19469338)

I had to read your comment like 4 times to get what you're trying to say - you mean that there's so little chance of dying from something else (violence, disease, etc) that something that's really difficult to control and relatively rare is the most common cause of death (suicide), right?

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Re:Suicide now leading cause of death among children aged 10... by mirimir on Saturday March 23, 2019 @03:00AM (#19469382)

TFA doesn't provide enough information to know whether the suicide rate is unusually high, or other causes are unusually low. What it says about causes of death for children aged 10 to 14:

suicide: 22.9%

cancer: 22.7%

accidents: 11.7%

In the US, the major causes of death among children and adolescents are motor vehicle crashes and firearm injuries, and then cancers.[0] So maybe, with somewhat less motor vehicles and far less firearms, the suicide rate in Japan is unusual.

Maybe a Japanese speaker could find the actual data.

0) https://sci-hub.tw/10.1056/NEJMsr1804754

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Re:Suicide now leading cause of death among children aged 10... by Ultramanoid on Saturday March 23, 2019 @03:14AM (#19469410)

I'd be very suspicious of the 'accidents' section and would like to see detailed data about it myself.

Many people run over by trains ( to mention a relatively common occurrence in Tokyo ) are put in the 'accidents' statistic chart as well, even when it is no such thing in some cases, but a clear, deliberate suicidal act. I speak from personal experience, and not just once. For many reasons, even though it's obvious for everyone and there might even be witnesses to the event, better to avoid the stigma.

Likewise in Real Estate companies having to disclose such events in their properties. Much easier to deal with an 'accident' than a 'suicide' in an otherwise perfectly good apartment.

The issue is probably underreported in every demographic, children and pre-teens included.

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Re:Suicide now leading cause of death among children aged 10... by mirimir on Saturday March 23, 2019 @03:23AM (#19469432)

I suspect that many motor vehicle and firearms "accidents" are actually suicides. Maybe not overt, but in a "death wish" sense. I was like that a lot in my teens and 20s. And even more recently, while I was taking SSRIs.

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Re:Suicide now leading cause of death among children aged 10... by youeseh on Saturday March 23, 2019 @02:43AM (#19469342)

Yup!

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