Teens' Suicides Breed Anxiety

Uday Karunaratne said he told his son to wake up and noticed that his son's computer screen was damaged. His son pointed to the computer and said, "This ruined my life!" his father recalled.

After leaving to check his e-mail, Uday Karunaratne heard the gunshot. Kanishke had found his father's .22-caliber handgun and turned it on himself. Uday Karunaratne said that he and his son used the gun for target practice and that he thought he had hidden it well.

Kanishke's sister, Samantha, 18, a student at the University of Nottingham in England, said yesterday that she believes a combination of academic pressure and the sudden denial of her brother's outlet -- video games -- may have made him snap.

"Of course, my parents didn't like [the games], but when they took that away, he didn't have that release," she said.

Karunaratne left no note, but his father said he believes that academic pressure played a role in his suicide. He called the Odegaardens to console them after Stanford killed herself.

Some parents said this weekend that three deaths occurring so close together has them worried that the pressures of academics and teenage life are too much for some kids to handle. In February, a former Einstein student was killed by a train in an incident that his father said has been a ruled a suicide. The father said he does not believe the ruling. However, parents at the school said the three deaths and the connection to trains have left them unnerved.

"I'm really, really concerned about this -- particularly after the second one," said Karen Schulz, the mother of a recent Einstein graduate and a psychotherapist for adolescents and their families. "I'm concerned that kids will start to see this or view this as an acceptable way to solve a problem," she added.

"Something is terribly wrong here," said Kay Romero, the mother of two Einstein graduates and an incoming Einstein freshman. "Is there too much stress on kids?"

Schulz and other parents, including the Odegaardens, said they do not blame the IB program. Schulz said she worries that "there's a certain contagion factor, that [kids will think] this is how we solve problems -- and it's not."

Neil Bernstein, a Bethesda adolescent psychologist and the author of "How to Keep Your Teenager Out of Trouble and What To Do if You Can't," said that although three incidents are probably not enough to term it a contagion, parents do have some cause to worry.

"In general, with any trend, with each occurrence the likelihood of another occurrence goes up," he said, adding, "Teenagers are highly suggestible -- there's no question about that."

Noting that the rate of teen suicide has been fairly stable in recent years, he said that stepping in front of a train is highly unusual for teens and that most take pills, a method more likely to fail.