I find this incredibly disturbing. My stepdaughter is 15 years old, and talks fairly openly with us about the stresses and issues that she and her friends deal with. It seems a lot harder to be a teen today than it did 25 years ago - and it was hard enough then!

(link...)

The suicide rate among preteen and young teen girls spiked 76 percent, a disturbing sign that federal health officials say they can't fully explain.

For all young people between ages 10 to 24, the suicide rate rose 8 percent from 2003 to 2004 — the biggest single-year bump in 15 years — in what one official called "a dramatic and huge increase."

The report, based on the latest numbers available, was released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and suggests a troubling reversal in recent trends. Suicide rates had fallen by 28.5 percent since 1990 among young people.

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