Suicide among adolescents and young adults Essay Example for Free

Suicide among adolescents and young adults Essay The cause of suicide has long been the focus of many psychological research studies. Suicide is generally the result of people’s beliefs and reactions to particular situations and experiences. Most people commit suicide out of depression and hopelessness that a person cannot handle anymore. The members of the society who have the highest rate of suicide and suicide attempts are the adolescents and young adults. Suicide has become the second or third leading cause of death among adolescents 13 to 18 years old (Bondora Goodwin, 2005, p. 6). Suicide is also among the top three causes of death among adults 18 to 24 years old (Malone et al, 2000, p. 1084). Suicide among these particular groups has been the â€Å"driving force behind increases in the overall suicide rate, and rates are rising fast† (Bloch, 1999, p. 26). A study of Gould et al (2003) shows that about five to eight percent of adolescents, or approximately one million teenagers, attempt suicide. Out of these one million, only about 700,000 receive medical attention. Due to these alarming statistics, the objective of this research study is to find out the causes behind suicide cases and suicide attempts among young people under the age of 25 using an interdisciplinary approach. Identifying potential causes helps determine the appropriate solutions or medical remedy for a particular cause. The research also helps to evaluate the possible ways on how to prevent suicides among adolescents and young adults, helping decrease the morbidity rate among this population. Lastly, the research is important for the purpose of understanding what specific aspects of society can be shown to trigger adolescents and young adults to commit suicide. For many reasons, knowledge must be utilized from multiple viewpoints as determined by various disciplines in order to fully understand these stressful experiences (Repko, 2005). Moreover, suicide is a complex issue that can no longer be confined in the domains of mental and medical health. According to Goldsmith (2002), â€Å"suicide is a consequence of complex interactions among biological, psychological, cultural and sociological factors†. Thus an interdisciplinary approach is necessary to achieve the objective of this study. For this particular research study, the perspectives of psychology, sociology and religion disciplines are investigated and analyzed in relation to suicide. Psychology helps determine the relationship between suicide and the state and characteristics of the human mind and behavior. The field of psychology helps understand why certain groups like adolescents and young adults have high suicide potential and tendency of having suicidal behavior. Sociology, on the other hand, assists in the understanding of several sociological factors of committing and attempting suicide. Psychological pains are commonly caused by sociological factors such as exposure to suicide or suicide attempts, relationships, and interactions among the member of the society and may increase the potential of having suicidal behaviors. In view of that, psychology and sociology are interrelated disciplines when it comes to determining the causes of suicide. Sociology encompasses several issues such as culture, media, peer, family, demographics, ethnicity, and socioeconomics that may influence the behavior and thinking of adolescents and young adults. Investigation of the religion perspective discipline shows how moral values, religious beliefs and practices influence the behavior and thinking of most people including the young adults. In the United States alone where ninety-five percent of Americans believe in God, more than fifty percent of them pray daily, forty percent attend church weekly, and almost seventy-five percent of Americans say their approach to life is grounded on their religious faith (Matthews et al, 1998, p. 118). Religion is considered as a significant part of people’s way of living, resulting to various beliefs about issues. It is perceived that the more a person is religiously committed, more likely he or she is to avoid suicide for suicide is considered to be a mortal sin for most religions. To accomplish the objective of the study, various secondary sources such as peer-reviewed journals, earlier research studies and books pertaining to the disciplines involved are reviewed and serve as the basis for any claim this paper will make. These sources also include interdisciplinary research studies that have already simultaneously discussed suicide in the disciplinary perspective of psychology, religion or sociology. The behavior of adolescents can be studied through the discipline of psychology. Adolescence is considered as a crucial stage because it is the time a person experiences a lot of changes and challenges including: biological and sexual maturation, development of personal identity, development of intimate relationships with an appropriate peer, and establishment of independence and autonomy in the context of the socio-cultural environment (Christie Viner, 2005, p. 301). It is also the stage when abstract thinking, law of morality, and ideology are developed (p. 301), thus adolescents have the tendency to reject or accept ideas, react, and resist to situations during this stage. Adolescents, since they are searching for identity, are easily influenced. According to Resnick et al (1997, p. 823) â€Å"adolescent well-being is largely the product of interactions among multiple contexts in which adolescents are embedded†. Media exposure, peers and family are all included in these multiple contexts that have psychological effects on adolescents. They are also easily influenced because of their idealism that has made adolescents vulnerable to sad and disappointing situations that may result in depression and consequently, suicide. According to Bennet (1994), adolescents and young adults with history of depression, a previous suicide attempt, a family history of psychiatric disorders, family disruption, and certain chronic or debilitating physical disorders or psychiatric illness are at higher risk of committing or attempting suicide. Among these factors, depression was found out to be the most common clinical syndrome of suicidal behavior (Petrie Chamberlain, 1983) and approximately 66 percent of those who attempted suicide have depressive symptoms (Rich et al, 1990). There are also life stressors that some young adults cannot handle yet like parental separation, parental alcoholism, parental abuse and related family problems, death of a loved one or close friend, and personal injury or physical illness (Finch Poznanski, 1971; Marcus, 1996; Pfeffer, 1986). For those who have the potential to have suicidal attempts or commit suicide, the most common reactions to these stressors are revenge, anger, hurting one’s self, smoking, drug use, alcohol abuse and suicide (Hepfler, 1998). Sociology is essentially about the society and the interactions of its members. Adolescents are part of the society and the interactions occurring in it. One of these interactions is friendship. Friends and peers are parts of the social network and is one of the central contexts for adolescents (Bearman Moody, 2004, p. 89). Adolescents who are still at the stage of finding their identity needed strong association and belonging and that isolation from peers leads to lower estimations of self-worth and self confidence (Tani et al, 2001). Media, on the other hand, is a strong influence on adolescents and young adults. Young people are very much exposed to popular media such as television, radio, movies, Internet, and reading materials. Rustad et al (2003, p. 121) found out that viewing films, listening to music, and other forms of media usage can have negative psychological impact on adolescents including: emotional arousal; activation of aggressive thoughts, emotions, expectations, and memories; weakening inhibitions against aggressive behavior; desensitizing reactions to violence; reducing empathy toward victims; and providing model of specific techniques. Curran (1987, p. 108) and Patros (1988, p.43) find that television, movies, books and some reading materials often portray suicide as a positive act, resulting to adolescents showing more acceptance to death including their own death. Some of the ways in which media have portrayed suicide to adolescents include: â€Å"a peaceful sleep that will make everything better; a means of punishing someone; a way of forcing someone to express their love for them; a way of being reunited with a deceased other; a way of expressing great love; and an escape from feelings of helplessness and hopelessness† (Bondora Goodwin, 2005, p. 9). Demographics were also found out to have significance on young people’s tendency of having suicidal thoughts or committing suicides. Gay youths, for instance, are more likely to commit suicide; the stigma, verbal and physical abuse they experienced leads to lower self-esteem, making them a high-risk population (Romero, 1999, p. 117). The same study was conducted by Russell and Joyner (2001) who found out that sexual minority youth are more likely to have suicide ideation and attempt, reflecting that sexual orientation can be a cause or a determinant of the causes of suicide among young people. In a study conducted by Molina Duarte (2006), it was found out that female adolescents are more likely to attempt suicide compared to their male counterparts. On the same study, ethnic minorities like American Indians or Alaskan Native adolescents are more probable to attempting suicide. Such study strongly suggests that demographic characteristics such as race and sex are determinants of risk factors. Religion is by far the discipline that has been the topic of many research studies about suicide. There are few literatures suggesting the relationship between religion and suicide like that of Kendler et al (2003) which concluded that some dimensions of religiosity are related to reduced risk of particular psychiatric disorders. In relation to suicide, this study suggests that religious beliefs can affect the thinking of people, reducing suicide ideation. The study conducted by Malone et al (2000) also suggests that religion can provide ‘reasons for living’, allowing people experiencing depressive episodes to be more optimistic about life, reducing the feeling of hopelessness and thus reducing the risk of committing suicide. This study is supported by the study conducted by Dervic et al (2004) which suggests that religious affiliation is associated with less suicidal behavior in depressed patients and that religiously affiliated subjects may function as protective factors against suicide attempts (p. 2303). Moreover, religious commitment was reported to promote social and family ties and reduces alienation, a social network provided by religion provide emotional support, nurturance and a sense of belonging (Koenig et al, 2001; Walls Zaritt, 1991). Religiosity is also associated with behaviors such as lower hostility, less anger, and less aggressiveness, behaviors opposite to suicidal behavior reflecting that religious people are less likely to commit suicide (Storch Storch, 2002). The purpose of this research then is to identify the causes of suicide and suicidal attempts among the adolescents by describing suicidal behaviors and the underlying causes behind such behaviors which are commonly due to stressors and sociological factors. Religious affiliations and commitment also serve as determinants on the possibility of committing suicide. Religious and moral beliefs commonly shape the behavior of a person, thus less commitment or more commitment and affiliation to religion may also be a cause of suicidal behavior. That is, it is expected to determine, through this study, if the people who are more committed with their respective religion are less likely to commit or attempt suicide.