Recent studies show an increasing number of suicide cases among Black children in the last three decades. 

Although non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaskan native boys and girls have the highest rate of suicide, Black children have an increasing rate, CNN reported. 

Amy Green, director of research for the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization, spoke with CNN and said Black teens lack access to mental health services. 

"Over time and particularly with Black boys, we have seen this troubling trend in a couple other studies. The fact that we are seeing this, especially with younger ages, is concerning," Green told CNN.  "Because so much of this is newer, there isn't a lot of data about why, but some of the factors are stressors like discrimination and the experience people have with discrimination and microaggressions."

The Journal of Pediatrics said Black boys have been attempting suicide at an increasing rate since 1991. 

Focusing on 198,540 high school students from 1991 to 2017, the study shows a decrease in suicide attempts among other races, but an opposite trend for Black teenage boys.

"Black youth have experienced an increase in suicide attempts, which is troubling because attempts are the most prominent risk factor associated with suicide death," the study concludes. "For Black boys, a significant increase in injury by attempt occurred, which suggests that Black boys may be engaging in increasingly lethal means when attempting suicide."

NBC News most recently cited statistics from the Journal of Community Health.

Suicide rates among Black girls ages 13-19 doubled from 2001 to 2017, while increasing by 60% for Black boys in the same age group over the same period, NBC News reported. 

Executive Director of the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University Michael Lindsey recently spoke with CBS News and said social media is a key factor for Black girls who attempt suicide.

"Research shows that girls exhibit more interpersonal stress from social media usage and cyberbullying," Lindsey told CBS News.

According to Lindsey, more than 41% of girls in 2017 said they were stressed because of social media. 

"Intersectionality, experiences with intersexual stigma and discrimination, affects Black female youth," Lindsey told CBS News, adding that Black girls also experience more problems with dating violence, race and gender discrimination. 

Another study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information in 2015 shows an increase in suicide rates among Black boys.

According to the NCBI, the suicide rate among school-aged children in the U.S. during 20 years of study showed a significant increase in suicide among Black children and a significant decrease in suicide cases for white children.

The NCBI said the rate of suicide by hanging or suffocation increased significantly in Black boys, but the overall change in suicide rates with the same method didn't change.

Another study published by Jama Pediatrics in 2015 concluded that the suicide rate for Black children doubled from 1993- 2012.  

Jama Pediatrics said suicide ranked 14th as a cause of death among Black children aged 5 to 11 years in 1993 to 1997, but increased to ninth in 2008 to 2012.

"For white children, suicide ranked 12th as a cause of death in 1993 to 1997 and 11th in 2008 to 2012," the study concluded.

Researchers also grouped data in segments of five years from 1993- 2019 and said the suicide rate among white children dropped from 1.26 per million between 1998-2002 to .89 per million in 2003-2007, while Black children saw a rise from 1.41 per million to 2.35 in the same time period.

New Jersey State Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman addressed the issue during a congressional staff briefing in 2018, urging for a task force on suicide prevention.