Why do so many young Americans end their own lives
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FOR half a century, America's young people have been felled by a seemingly unlikely killer: themselves. The suicide rate for Americans aged between 15 and 24 tripled between 1950 and 1994, from 4.5 to 13.7 per 100,000. Over the same period, the suicide rate for adults and the elderly actually went down. Since then, the youngsters' rate has drifted down to 11.1. Still, the number who die by their own hand remains strikingly high. Why?
In 1998, the last year for which government data are available, suicide was the third commonest cause of death for young Americans, after accidents and murder...