Editorial: Disparities in Mental Health Care Access Prior to Youth Suicide: Implications for Research and Upstream Prevention

Abstract

Despite decades of suicide prevention research and advances in clinical practice, suicide rates among youth-especially youth from minoritized racial, ethnic, and sexual identity groups, and living in rural populations-have rapidly increased since 2010.^1,2 Because of the rising suicide rates in the United States, the US Surgeon General called mental health the "defining health crisis of our time."³ Although there was a decline in the overall suicide rates for people aged 10 to 14 years and those aged 15 to 24 years, with rates falling by 18% and 9%, respectively, in 2022⁴ and reduced suicidal ideation and behavior for some youth in 2023,⁵ suicide is still the second and third leading cause of death for youth in these age groups, showing the magnitude of this public health problem.