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Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Tue Jul 16, 2002 11:17 am

WASHINGTON (AP) - Close to 3 million Americans age 12 to 17 considered suicide in 2000 and more than a third of those tried to kill themselves, a government survey found.Girls were almost twice as likely as boys to have thought about or tried to commit suicide, according to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse report.The study, released Sunday by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, showed that only one in three of those who reported considering suicide or trying to kill themselves received counseling."Research has demonstrated that the most effective way to prevent suicide is through the early identification and treatment of those at risk," the report said. "Yet ... only 36 percent of youths at risk for suicide during the past year received mental health treatment during this same time period."White, black, Hispanic and Asian youths reported similar rates of suicide risk, the report said. Youths in Western states were the most at risk â€” almost 14 percent â€” followed by young people in the South, 13 percent; the Midwest, 12 percent; and the Northeast, 11 percent.In all, the study showed that 9 percent of children age 12-13 considered or tried to commit suicide in 2000. The percentage for teenagers 14-15 and 16-17 was 13.7 percent for each age group.The study also found that youngsters who had used alcohol or illicit drugs during the year were much more likely to have had suicidal thoughts.***There seems to be something missing from this story.***

Guest · **Posted:** Tue Jul 16, 2002 1:46 pm

One wonders if some advocacy group will run a similiar study for copy editors:"A recent report shows that 46 percent of all copy editors between $18,000 and $25,000 a year have had suicidal thoughts in the last year. Statistically, the highest number of copy editors contemplating suicide also reported the following indicators:-- Bad break-room coffee, 62 percent
-- Being forced to lay out "Senior Citizen Calendar" on a weekly basis, 47 percent
-- Editing more than six mind-numbing municipal meeting stories in one shift, 78 percent
-- Multiple clashes with city editor over late copy, 59 percent
-- Choosing between Liza Minnelli and Ozzy Osbourne items for "Celebrities In The News" column, 44 percent
-- Being scheduled to work three straight national holidays in a row, 71 percent
-- Losing headline-writing argument that technically, Martha Stewart is not a "diva," 64 percent
-- Three system-network crashes or more in a night, 89 percent
-- Being forced to accommodate stories written at twice their budgeted length, 97 percent
-- Inability to avoid overhearing pregnant co-worker rattle on at excruciating length with colleagues about episiotomies and dilated cervixes, 39 percent
-- Getting stuck with Page A1 jumps at least 20 inches too long for Page A2 six minutes before deadline, 66 percentAnybody have more to add?

Finn DeSiecle · **Posted:** Tue Jul 16, 2002 7:23 pm

-- Having to argue with the newsroom's worst writer that the 6th graf should be the story's lede, as opposed to his/her flogging of some horribly inappropriate cliche that currently takes up the whole first five grafs: 63 percent.-- Hanging out hours after first-edition deadline because AP promises a major write-thru on a top story ... then later advises that the news conference that's supposed to be the basis of the write-thru has been rescheduled for 3 a.m.: 22 percent.-- Having a huge package drop off the budget after you've cut everything else in the section to accommodate it: 14 percent.-- Sharing your computer with a daytime worker who sets the display and function options to the most bizarre configuration the operating system offers: 10 percent.

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