the latest info on suicide

All over the world, there are certain factors that indicate a person's potential for a suicide attempt: the female, the young, the single, the mentally ill, and the poorly educated are at higher risk.

“Our research suggests that suicidal thoughts and behaviors are more common than one might think, and also that key risk factors for these behaviors are quite consistent across many different countries around the world,” said Harvard University researcher Matthew Nock, whose study appears in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

According to the World Health Organization, suicide rates have increased by 60 percent in the last 45 years. Suicide is now among the leading causes of death among those aged 15 to 44 for both genders.

“Across every single country we saw there was a significant increase in suicidal thoughts during adolescence and young adulthood,” Nock said in a telephone interview.

He said the odds of a person committing suicide rise sharply between the ages of 12 and 15 and the time between the first suicidal thoughts and an actual attempt is short.