Teenage suicide--the five-year Metro Dade County experience from 1979 until 1983

A study of suicide among teenagers was performed on the case files of the Office of the Medical Examiner of Metro Dade County in Miami, Florida, U.S.A. during the years 1979 until 1983. A total of 65 cases were studied and analyzed as to age, race, sex, cause of death, blood alcohol content at autopsy, drugs detected at autopsy, location of incident, presence or absence of a suicide note, and the reason for the suicide. The majority of the cases involved 16-19-year-old white males who took their life by handgun wounds. Predominantly they were sober. They killed themselves at home and half the time a note was left. Frequent reasons for the suicide included 'lover's quarrels" or drug problems.