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This Child Fatality information provided by the Injury & Violence Prevention section of the Office of Disease Prevention & Epidemiology.
- Special Topics 2. Suicide/Intentional Self Harm Deaths  In 1999 there were 18 incidents in which a youth under age 18 engaged in intentional self harm 6 which led to their death. Deaths due to intentional self harm or suicide among children numbered 20 in 1997 and 16 in 1998. Included among the 18 deaths in 1999 were 16 suicides and 2 cases of Russian Roulette. 7 The rate of intentional self-harming behavior among youth aged 15-17 was almost six times that among those aged 10-14 (4 incidents among those aged 10-14, for a rate of 1.7 compared to 14 among those aged 15-17, for a rate of 9.5). Males were five times more likely to die from self harm than females (15 incidents among males compared to three incidents among females). Six incidents occurred while the victim was under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. All of the victims were white. In this group of deaths, 56% (10) were firearm incidents. Six of the guns used were handguns and four were long guns. Seventy percent (7/10) of firearms were stored unlocked with ammunition. The storage location for one gun was unknown. The firearms belonged either to the victims? parents (5), the victim (2) or an adult acquaintance (1). All 10 firearm incidents involved a male victim. According to the 1999 Oregon Behavioral Risk Factor Survey, 44% of Oregon homes contain firearms.8 Youth access to firearms increases the risk of suicide. The remaining incidents of self harming behavior include suicide due to hanging (4), jumping from a bridge and drowning (1), insulin poisoning (1), intentionally lighting oneself on fire (1), and a motor vehicle crash. Of the four suicides by hanging, three (75%) were male.
There was a group of three suicides in Eastern Oregon within a short period of time. The temporal and geographic clustering of these three deaths suggests that they were related to each other. In two firearm incidents the children knew each other and were friends. Sixty-one percent (11) of the youth who died by intentional self harm had a family history of receiving services from SCF, six of the youth had child abuse and neglect referrals. |
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The Oregon Plan for Suicide Prevention and additional information on youth suicide are available at the Health Services website under the Center for Disease Prevention and Epidemiology, and then the Injury Prevention and Epidemiology section at: www.ohd.hr.state.or.us/ipe. Recommendations to Prevent Suicide/Intentional Self Harm Deaths
Examples of current safety initiatives
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Data were available on whether or not the following risk factors for suicide were present in
each case: prior arrests or convictions for crime, a history of a prior suicide attempt, history
of mental health problems, current mental health treatment, gender or sexual orientation issues, alcohol or substance abuse history, and problems with school attendance and/or grades. Ninety-four percent (17) of these children had at least one of these recognized risk factors, and 67% (12) had two or more of these risk factors. Table 4 shows the number of youth with a history of risk factors. The presence of these risk factors may help identify high risk youth who should be the focus of prevention efforts.
In all cases a death scene investigation occurred; however, some investigative reports on
suicides were as brief as two or three sentences. The state CFR team members determined
that a more thorough investigation of suicide deaths is warranted. Often investigations
included only family members as sources of information. Additional important information
could be gathered from sources such as school and the youth?s peers.
