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So many possible answers are being proposed in this thread that don't seem to take into consideration that the interesting phenomena to explain here is why the

by ak_111 3y ago

So many possible answers are being proposed in this thread that don't seem to take into consideration that the interesting phenomena to explain here is why the increase is specifically high in America. So far some of the proposals include: the world is teetering on the edge, men are not listened to and social media usage. I don't see why any of these three things impact Americans disproportionately compared to say to places like Saudi Arabia, Germany and China where suicide in the young is much less than the US. Given that suicide tends to impact 2x to 3x times more the unemployed than the employed [1], what is truly interesting here in my opinion is that America has an even higher young suicide rate than places with very high youth unemployment such as South Europe or Middle East. My guess it is something to do with culture, family ties and the stigma of not being in work or "productive". [1] https://jech.bmj.com/content/57/8/594 https://jech.bmj.com/content/57/8/594 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9298506/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9298506/

082349872349872 3y ago
When I was traveling in the "third world", I noticed that although it was bad to be poor in those countries, it was often very good to be rich. The Old Country has a similar vibe, and I think (in any country) the young are far more likely to be (economically if not culturally) poor than rich.
- ak_111 3y ago
  What I noticed in many countries with traditionally high youth unemployment, say like Egypt or Greece, it is considered normal to be young and unemployed and just living off your family, there wasn't much of a stigma attached to it. In fact people will declare to you "I live with one of my kids who finished university three years ago and is currently unemployed" with no hint of disappointment, but the situation in some parts of the west and especially the US, people will talk about unemployed university graduates as total losers and embarrassment.
  - 082349872349872 3y ago
    I suspect the tradition that kids move out right after school is a result of countries (in my experience: US and Sweden) having had a lot of unused space, whereas in countries which have always been densely populated, that expectation isn't there. compare https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/thumb/d/d0/Young_people_leaving_the_parental_household_2020.png/1200px-Young_people_leaving_the_parental_household_2020.png https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/th... EDIT: also, at the high end of the US real estate market, I note that the phrase "family compound" was often correlated with "price upon request".
  - readyman 3y ago
    Great counter-example to what is absolutely the culprit: wealth inequality. However, the ruling class and those who accept their legitimacy will never accept this explanation.
NoGravitas 3y ago
You're somewhere close to it, I think. Young people in the US have much weaker social support networks than e.g. Southern Europe, and US culture is much more individualistic and atomized than probably anywhere else on Earth.
ryandrake 3y ago
155 comments, and so far, nobody seems to have mentioned a very obvious and well-known difference between America and the rest of the world: Easy access to guns. Yes, a motivated person will kill himself with or without access to guns, but how could having nearly one in every two households[1] not be at least a factor? 1: https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/percentage-americans-own-guns.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/percentage-americans-own...
- XorNot 3y ago
  This also breaks down in the gender difference in suicide rates: attempts are quite similar, but method changes the outcome a lot - men in the US are much more likely to shoot themselves.

by ak_111 3y ago

082349872349872 3y ago

When I was traveling in the "third world", I noticed that although it was bad to be poor in those countries, it was often very good to be rich. The Old Country has a similar vibe, and I think (in any country) the young are far more likely to be (economically if not culturally) poor than rich.

ak_111 3y ago
What I noticed in many countries with traditionally high youth unemployment, say like Egypt or Greece, it is considered normal to be young and unemployed and just living off your family, there wasn't much of a stigma attached to it. In fact people will declare to you "I live with one of my kids who finished university three years ago and is currently unemployed" with no hint of disappointment, but the situation in some parts of the west and especially the US, people will talk about unemployed university graduates as total losers and embarrassment.
- 082349872349872 3y ago
  I suspect the tradition that kids move out right after school is a result of countries (in my experience: US and Sweden) having had a lot of unused space, whereas in countries which have always been densely populated, that expectation isn't there. compare https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/thumb/d/d0/Young_people_leaving_the_parental_household_2020.png/1200px-Young_people_leaving_the_parental_household_2020.png https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/th... EDIT: also, at the high end of the US real estate market, I note that the phrase "family compound" was often correlated with "price upon request".
- readyman 3y ago
  Great counter-example to what is absolutely the culprit: wealth inequality. However, the ruling class and those who accept their legitimacy will never accept this explanation.

NoGravitas 3y ago

You're somewhere close to it, I think. Young people in the US have much weaker social support networks than e.g. Southern Europe, and US culture is much more individualistic and atomized than probably anywhere else on Earth.

ryandrake 3y ago

155 comments, and so far, nobody seems to have mentioned a very obvious and well-known difference between America and the rest of the world: Easy access to guns. Yes, a motivated person will kill himself with or without access to guns, but how could having nearly one in every two households[1] not be at least a factor? 1: https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/percentage-americans-own-guns.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/percentage-americans-own...

XorNot 3y ago
This also breaks down in the gender difference in suicide rates: attempts are quite similar, but method changes the outcome a lot - men in the US are much more likely to shoot themselves.