Fine-tuning data to better understand suicide and self-injury behavior in PA youth: An experiment with age group definitions

Background/Purpose: Suicide is the third leading cause of death for ages 10-24 in the U.S. Yet the problem is not uniform across this age range. Among 10-year olds nationwide in 2005, for example, suicide did not rank as a top five cause of death. Also, youth display unique preferences for method of self-injury compared to the general population.

Methods: Inpatient hospitalization data and death certificate data were used to compare suicide and non-fatal self-injury rates by method for ages 10-24. Different age groups were used to determine which showed most clearly the dynamics of youth self-injury. The standard youth age groups (10-14, 15-19, and 20-24) were also compared.

Results: Preliminary results suggest that the standard five year age groups obscure important trends in youth suicide and self-injury behavior. The most discriminating age groups are better aligned with age ranges that define public education, such as middle school age, high school age, and young adults (or college age).

Conclusions: Well-chosen age groupings are essential to define trends within youth suicide and self-injury to determine when certain self-injury behaviors begin and at what age these behaviors change. By more clearly specifying the age ranges for self-injury and suicidal behavior, programs are better able to implement interventions. For example, if definite behavioral shifts are associated with legal or educational age boundaries, then interventions could be better focused on the appropriate channels for preventive services.