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Parents taking away cellphones and other devices sometimes preceded youth suicide in Utah, CDC study finds

Related Topics: Youth suicide

Several national studies have linked increased use of electronic devices to an increase in depression and suicidal thoughts in youth.

But it appears that removing young people’s access to devices altogether may also be a hazard, according to a new federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that examined Utah’s increasing rate of youth suicide.

The study, released Thursday, examined a variety of data on the 150 Utah youth who died by suicide between 2011 and 2015. At a Thursday news conference, state health officials said they were especially struck by what the researchers had gleaned about access to electronics.