Teen Suicide Prevention: Signs That Could Show Tendencies In Young People To Kill Themselves

A 16-year-old Chicago teen's family has filed a lawsuit against his school district and the city after the boy allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the parking deck of his school, reports said Thursday. The deceased teen, Corey Walgren’s family filed the lawsuit in DuPage District Court, blaming Naperville North High School of causing “excessive emotional and psychological distress” to him during interrogation, causing him to take the extreme step.

Dean Stephen Madden and Naperville police officer Brett Heun were named as defendants in the lawsuit, Daily News reported. The deceased's family sought over $5 million in compensation, the report added.

Read: Does ‘13 Reasons Why’ Glamorize Suicide?

In January, Naperville North High School authorities accused Walgren of storing child pornography on his mobile phone and showing the video to his friends. According to attorney Terry Ekl, the teen had engaged in consensual sex with a girl and of the sounds of the act were recorded on the phone. Madden and Heun threatened Walgren by telling him that he would be put on the sex offender’s list because of the alleged possession of child porn on his phone, the lawsuit reportedly said.

The family also alleged the officials questioned Walgren on January 11 without informing his parents. However, the school district said its officials handled the situation well.

“Our main concern with any matter involving students is fairness, discretion, and objectivity,” the school district said, according to Daily News. “The school district feels confident that we handled this issue appropriately and engaged the right officials pursuant to the protocols and procedures that govern student affairs,” the report added, citing school district officials.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report last November stating suicide rate among middle school students doubled from 2007 to 2014. In total 425 children, aged between 10 to 14 years committed suicide in 2014, according to the report.

"Any rise (in youth suicides) should be of concern, there's no doubt," Mark Kaplan, a professor of social welfare at the University of California, Los Angeles, said told Reuters at the time. "In time we might uncover some reasons, but a cautionary note [is] not to rush to any conclusions from this."

One of the reasons why teens commit suicide is because they have problems at school or with friends or family, or all of these, according to HealthyChildren.org.

Following are the signs to watch out for suicidal behavior in teens, gathered from WebMD:

• Making suicidal statements
• Talking, writing or drawing about death
• Withdrawing from family and friends
• Drug or alcohol use problems
• Falling grades at school, disruptive behavior or remaining absent
• Stress
• Difficulty in thinking or concentrating
• Expressing guilt
• Feeling sad
• Loss of interest in activity, which they enjoyed doing in the past
• Complaining about boredom
• Ignoring personal appearance
• Running away from home
• Risk-taking behavior
• Complaints of a headache, or fatigue without any such actual issues