University of Iowa expert addresses why U.S. suicide rates are the highest they’ve been since 1941

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that U.S. suicide rates are at the highest levels since 1941, a University of Iowa expert says there’s reason to believe young people may be successfully reducing the stigma surrounding mental health issues — contributing to a decline in youth suicide rates.

According to the CDC’s 2022 provisional numbers, nearly 50,000 lost their lives to suicide last year. These numbers are released with the caveat that they may change, though not in substantial ways that change patterns, as reporting of suicides can be delayed because of investigations regarding the cause and circumstances surrounding the death.

UI assistant professor Jonathan Platt, a social public health researcher who studies changes in the population patterns of mental illness and suicide, said it’s important to think about what might be driving suicide rates for different groups. His work focuses on identifying ways to improve mental health and reduce group disparities.

Provisional suicide rates are historically high for all ages, but are somewhat leveling off among younger adults and youth, which Platt said he was heartened to see. But rates are going up for older American adults.

In total, there were 14.3 suicides per 100,000 standard population in the U.S., according to 2022 provisional data — up from a rate of 14.1 suicides per 100,000 standard population in the 2021 final data.

Rates for people in age groups 10-14, 15-24 and 25-34 fell 18 percent, 9 percent and 2 percent, respectively, from 2021 to 2022, according to the CDC report. But rates increased a range of 3 percent to 9 percent for all age groups 35 and older. The report noted increases for those ages 35-44 (from 18.1 to 18.7), 45-54 (18.2 to 19.2), 55-64 (17.0 to 18.5) and 75 and older (20.3 to 21.3).

Individuals may be seeing more content decreasing the stigma around individuals who have mental health challenges, he said, and those messages may be prompting young people to seek support for those challenges.

“My thoughts are that the reduction of stigma around talking about mental health and acute crises around depression and anxiety and stress that can lead to self-harm thoughts and actions, we see those conversations and initiatives being led by young people,” Platt said.

Plus, since the 988 suicide hotline rolled out over a year ago, Platt said awareness has increased. Overall, Platt said the issue seems to be getting more attention from policymakers, practitioners and researchers across the board. The U.S. surgeon general in 2021 issued a call to action to implement a national strategy for suicide prevention.

What’s driving high rates?

Social isolation and other changes to social networks over the course of several decades, as well as changes related to social inequalities in health and socioeconomic opportunities, are factors to be considered to understand why suicide rates are climbing, Platt said.

Another factor that still needs more detailed research, Platt said, is the use of social media — the direct effects of the experiences that people have online or indirectly by causing increasing social isolation.

Additionally, firearms are the most lethal means to die by suicide, Platt said, so the availability of firearms is another factor. Availability is somewhat uneven around the U.S., Platt said, so exploring policies to restrict individuals who are particularly at risk of dying by suicide can allow the U.S. to “make an appreciable dent in the suicide rates.”

Ultimately, the current trends of increasing suicide rates have preceded the COVID-19 pandemic, starting at the beginning of the 21st century and seeing a more pronounced uptick around 2010-2015. That means these trends should be placed in a broader context, Platt said.

“The jury is out still around the long-term effects of the pandemic on inequality,” Platt said. “We’re still grappling with and recovering from all of that disruption.”

Racial disparities

Suicide rates have generally been increasing more among non-Hispanic Black Americans and Hispanic Americans than white Americans, which Platt said calls for an understanding of social or economic inequalities disproportionately affecting people of color.

A 2018 paper showed among those ages 5-12, non-Hispanic Black youth were twice as likely to die by suicide than their white counterparts, which Platt said “shocked a lot of people” and prompted a swift response. A congressional report highlight the issue and set priorities for what’s needed to understand and reduce these trends.

Tribal communities also have developed interventions to address the high rates of suicide among Native Americans, Platt said. According to the CDC, the highest age-adjusted provisional suicide rate in 2022 among the five race and Hispanic origin groups considered in the report were for Native American and Alaska Native non-Hispanic people at 26.7 deaths per 100,000 standard population.

However, the reported noted some limitations in understanding the changes in rates for some age or race and Hispanic-origin groups based on having relatively few deaths to reach statistical significance.

“There are a lot of things that can be learned and potentially scaled up or adapted to different social and cultural contexts,” Platt said. “But I am encouraged to see that there was a quite a lot of attention on the suicide and mental health crisis across communities across the U.S.”

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