Adolescent Suicide: Identifying Risk and Implementing Interventions

Suicidal ideation, attempts, and completion have been steadily increasing among U.S. adolescents, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this problem. This trend may be related both to increases in stressors related to the pandemic and to decreases in available supports. In the absence of sufficient community-based mental health services, emergency department visits for suicide attempts have increased among adolescents in late 2020 and early 2021 relative to previous years. As adolescent suicide attempt rates appear to have increased during the pandemic, a local surge in adolescent suicide prompted the Las Vegas school district in Clark County to resume in-person education, underscoring the need for school-based identification of at-risk youths and intervention.

This Editor’s Choice collection features articles that highlight detection of youths at risk of suicide and strategies that can be implemented to reduce this risk. The first set of articles examines strategies to identify those at risk, including review of universal suicide risk screening in emergency departments, depression screening in pediatric primary care, and identification of factors associated with suicide attempt and self-injury. The second group highlights interventions for adolescents that both mental health and non–mental-health professionals can implement, including strategies that can be used during the COVID-19 pandemic.