USA Today (8/18, Healy) reports that according to research published online Aug. 18 in the journal Pediatrics, “more parents – especially upper-income ones – are reporting that their children have a physical, developmental or mental health disability.” An analysis revealed that “the number of non-institutionalized children age 17 and younger with disabilities rose 16% between 2001 and 2011, with nearly six million children (8% of the population) reported as having a disability.”

The AP (8/18) reports, “The increases may partly reflect more awareness and recognition that conditions, including autism, require a specific diagnosis to receive special services, the researchers say.”

Related Links:

— “Parent-reported cases of disability in children rise,” Michelle Healy, USA Today, August 18, 2014.

HealthDay (8/15, Preidt) reports that according to a study published online Aug. 14 in the American Journal of Public Health, “when large numbers of workers lose their jobs, suicide attempts increase among certain groups of teens.” After analyzing “the results of a survey of more than 403,000 American teens conducted from 1997 to 2009, along with nationwide data about layoffs,” researchers “found that when one percent of a state’s workers lost their jobs, suicide attempts and other suicide-related behaviors jumped two…to three percent among girls during the following year.”

Related Links:

— “Worker Layoffs Tied to Rise in Teen Suicides, Study Finds,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 14, 2014.

Major television networks, newspapers, wire sources and Internet media outlets continue coverage of comedian and actor Robin Williams’ suicide, focusing on the revelation by his widow, Susan Schneider, that Williams was in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, but he was not yet ready to share his diagnosis with the public.

ABC World News (8/14, story 3, 2:20, Muir) reported that Susan Schneider released “a statement thanking everyone for the outpouring of good wishes, but she added something else, revealing that Robin Williams had received a Parkinson’s diagnosis.” In another segment on ABC World News (8/14, story 4, 0:30, Muir), senior medical contributor Jennifer Ashton, MD reported that it is “very difficult to treat depression in a patient with Parkinson’s, but there is excellent treatment now and there is reason for hope.”

The New York Times (8/14, Sanger-Katz, Subscription Publication) reports in “The Upshot” that “there’s a strong body of evidence that suicide is…contagious,” and that “publicity surrounding a suicide has been repeatedly and definitively linked to a subsequent increase in suicide, especially among young people.”

For that reason, “suicide prevention advocates have developed guidelines for news media coverage of suicide deaths.” The goal is not to glamorize suicide “or to make it seem like a simple or inevitable solution for people who are at risk.”

Related Links:

— “The Science Behind Suicide Contagion,” Margot Sanger-Katz, New York Times, August 13, 2014.

NBC Nightly News (8/13, story 6, 2:25, Holt) reported in the aftermath of the suicide of comedian and actor Robin Williams on “an outpouring for people who face similar struggles with depression and suicide.” Correspondent Kate Snow was shown saying, “People struggling with depression turned to social media, strangers supporting each other sharing deeply personal stories.” Snow emphasized the importance of the “dialogue about suicide that’s happening because of Robin Williams,” citing her own personal experience with the loss of a family member to suicide.