ABSTRACT
Suicide is a self-inflicted death. It is death at one’s own hands. In a completed suicide, the effort to kill oneself was successful. A suicide attempt is an act with the intent to kill oneself but which did not succeed. Individuals survive suicide attempts. Suicide survivors are family members and friends of a loved one who died by suicide. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among high school and college students. In 1992, 4,693 adolescents in this age group committed suicide. Only car crashes kill more young people each year. The number of young people who have been committing suicide has been increasing greatly over recent years, with an increase of more than 300 percent over the last three decades. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among adults twenty-five to forty-four years old and the second leading cause among individuals fifteen to twenty-four years of age.
