the relationship between the frequency of alcohol use and suicide rates in young people background suicide is an important public health problem and one of the leading causes of death among adolescents in the united states the death rate from suicide amongst 1519 year olds doubled between 1960 and 2001 it has been suggested that alcohol misuse contributed to this increase in suicide rates among young people we examined the relationship between the percentage of frequently drinking high school students and suicide rates among 1524 year olds in 17 countriesmethods correlations were computed to examine the relationship between suicide rates in 1524 year old males and females and the percentage of frequently drinking students in 17 countries using median split countries were divided into two groups according to the percentage of frequently drinking students suicide rates in countries with the lower percentage of frequently drinking students were compared to suicide rates in countries with the higher percentage of frequently drinking students using ttestresults there was a negative correlation between the percentage of frequently drinking students and suicide rates in both males n17 r 051 p 0037 and females n17 r 055 p 0023 the countries with the lower percentage of frequently drinking students had higher suicide rates in both 1524 year old males t 225 df15 p 0005 and females t 403 n15 p 0001conclusion suicide rates among 1524 year old males and females were lower in the countries with the higher percentage of frequently drinking high school students our finding is consistent with the suggestion that alcoholism tends to protect one against suicide early on but after 2025 years if not earlier it exacerbates suicide potential maris 1992 the results of this study should be treated with caution until replicated