Rise in child suicide linked to reduced quality of life, parental addiction

Abstract

After generally declining for decades, suicide rates among children aged 10–17 rose dramatically from 2011 to 2018, according to an article released in December 2023. The author, from RAND, writes that the illicit opioid crisis is responsible. This began with the August 2010 introduction of an abuse‐resistant form of the painkiller OxyContin. No longer available for abuse, the drug was replaced on the street first by heroin and then by other illicit opioids including fentanyl. The researcher found that the areas most exposed to the reformulated OxyContin had a greater rise in child suicides. The researcher suggests that the problem was not an increase in illicit opioid use by children, but rather higher propensities to suicide risk factors such as increasing rates of child neglect and altered household living arrangements — drug use by parents and caregivers. The researcher also documents the decline in living conditions for children during this period. The article documents suicide rates from the National Vital Statistics System Multiple Cause of Death database. Powell, D. (2023, Dec 1). Growth in suicide rates among children during the illicit opioid crisis. Demography, 60(6), 1843–1875. http://doi.org/10.1215/00703370‐11077660.