SCIENCE BRIEFING
Times Staff and Wire Reports
About 32,000 U.S. adults kill themselves each year. But millions more think about suicide or even make plans to kill themselves, according to a new national survey.
The 2008 survey found that an estimated 8.3 million people ages 18 and older -- 3.7% of the adult population -- had serious thoughts of suicide in the previous year. Of those, an estimated 2.3 million -- 1% of the adult population -- made a suicide plan; and about half of those actually attempted suicide, the survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found.
