This. I attempted suicide when I was middle school-aged. While I'm sure puberty and social issues had a lot to do with it, it was mainly because school was bad

This. I attempted suicide when I was middle school-aged. While I'm sure puberty and social issues had a lot to do with it, it was mainly because school was bad and hard (I went to a public "gifted" magnet school) and all you heard from adults is that high school is even harder, college is harder than that, and "real life" in the workforce is even harder than that. Based on this faulty intel, I assumed that suicide was rational: if I was miserable now, I would be miserable for at least 40 years (until retirement). It turns out that "real life" is way lower stakes than I was led to believe (at least if you have solidly upper middle class parents like I did). Even poorly-paid jobs are livable if you have low expectations, live somewhere cheap, and don't have children. Rent gets even cheaper relatively if you have a partner with a job. Unemployment insurance and medicaid are an inadequate safety net but they do exist and can get you through a rough spot.