ABSTRACT
Few if any problems confronting our nation’s schools are more urgent than suicidal behavior in students. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among youth in the U.S., trailing only behind accidents and homicides. Astoundingly, more teenagers have died by suicide than from influenza, cancer, birth defects, AIDS, pneumonia, and chronic lung disease combined (U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 2007). Further, it is tragic phenomenon that a young person dies by suicide every five hours in the U.S. and that the number of suicides has tripled since the 1950s, while rates of unintentional injury, congenital anomalies, and disease have decreased (Berman, Jobes, & Silverman, 2006; Wagner, 2009). Clearly, youth suicide is a pressing problem that warrants urgent action.
