Professor Michael Siegel of Boston University, co-author of a new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine on January 17, declared household gun ownership rates within the United States (be) "the strongest single predictor of a state's youth suicide rate". Wikinews interviewed Siegel to learn more.
Siegel and colleagues including predoctoral fellow Anita Knopov, the lead author, compared data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2004, when the body last (survey) US gun owners, to corresponding information on suicides by 10–19 year olds from 2005 through 2015. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (use) to find data on such variables as education, depression, and suicidal planning and ideation.
Siegel agreed to answer some questions for Wikinews‍'s correspondent.
Wikinews: Thank you for (take) the time to speak with us. you mind telling us a little about yourself, your background, and what (lead) you to look into this subject?
Michael Siegel: I am a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health. My research (focus) on the areas of tobacco, alcohol, and firearms. We (decide) to look at this subject because although there (be) some studies that (report) an association between household gun ownership and youth suicide rates, one argue that the reason for this association is that gun households differ systematically from non-gun households in that they are more likely to have youth with depression and therefore youth who are more likely to attempt suicide. Our study (design) to control for these factors in order to determine whether differences in suicide attempt rates explain the observed association between household gun ownership and youth suicide rates.

Taken from: https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/US_study_finds_correlation_between_youth_suicide,_household_gun_ownership
Photo by Eduardo Manchon - https://www.panoramio.com/photo/23718