The number of adolescents and young adults who kill themselves has soared since the 1950s, making suicide the third leading cause of death for those aged fifteen to twenty-four. Suicide rates for fifteen- to nineteen-year-olds have quadrupled since the 1950s. Counselors and sociologists are especially concerned about the suicide rate for black youth. Statistics show that the suicide rate for blacks aged fifteen to twenty-four increased by 63 percent between 1980 and 1993, while the rate for white youths in the same age group increased by only 8 percent. The surge in the black male suicide rate is closing the gap between the rates for white and black males. The suicide rate for fifteen- to twenty-four-year-old black males rose from 12.3 per 100,000 in 1980 to 20.1 per 100,000 in 1993. By comparison, the suicide rate for white males in the same age group was relatively flat during the same...