Increased Incidence of Teen Suicide - Essay Example

? Increased incidence of teen suicide Suicide among teenagers is on the rise in the American economy. During their teenage years, almost all adolescents experience a period of turmoil in their lives. The young adults experience many physical and emotional changes and in most cases do not know where to confide their problems. In many cases, the teenagers are unable to find a solution to their problems are left to wander in a world of loneliness. Prolonged loneliness of the mind can lead to severe depression which has been identified as a major reason for teenage suicide across the world. The factors responsible for teenage suicide have been found to be quite different from those related to adult suicide. The increased incidence of suicide among the modern teenagers can be attributed to a variety of factors. During the adolescent years, the young adults are in the most sensitive phase of their lives which place them in an emotionally vulnerable state. Being in this mental condition, if the youth encounters other difficulties like family tensions, misguided influence of peers, mental hazards, inadequate parental support etc. he often resort to suicide to put an end to all his sufferings. The Adolescent Years Medical practitioners have identified “adolescence” as the most explosive period of change in the life of a human being. It is the time when a child grows into an adult and is often encountered by explosive and challenging situations. The young adult goes through hormonal changes which in turn causes major alterations in his physical and emotional state of existence. Sometimes, this becomes a traumatic experience for the teenagers, when they do not have proper guidance from adults on how to adapt themselves to this particular phase of life. Youths in their adolescent years tend to get bored easily and constantly seek unique activities that can stimulate their senses. However, they are also found to resist any major changes in their lifestyle as suggested by their guardians. This often becomes a paradoxical situation for the teenager: while he himself experiences internal physical and emotional changes, he becomes averse to the alterations of the outside world. It is very important for adults to intervene at this stage of a youth’s life. Without proper guidance from experienced people, teenagers find themselves in a lonely world. When this is combined with other problems like the fear of social exclusion, substance abuse etc. it can lead into a vicious cycle of depression. Social researchers have identified depression as the most common cause of teenage suicide instances. (Maples, Packman, Abney et al, 397-405) Misguiding influence of peers During adolescence, young adults experience an urgency of developing their own personality to gain an acceptance in society. During the years of middle school, the teenager’s life is hugely influenced by the opinion of his friends and peers in school. The building and breaking of friendships and other relationships in this stage also have a significant impact on the young adult. His “changing years” had already rendered him in a vulnerable and emotionally unstable state of mind. Sometimes, the meandering nature of his peer relations become too much for him to bear. In 1993, a study conducted by McKee, Jones and Barbie have shown that in such cases many teenagers thought that ending their lives would provide a solution to all their problems. Some youths also considered suicide as a fascinating and unique idea for experimentation. (Maples, Packman, Abney et al, 397-405) Family Tensions According to a research by Wenz in 1989, most of the middle school children committing suicide had referred to family problems as the reason, in their respective suicide notes. 50 % of the teenagers had declared that regular tensions in family life had driven them to adopt such a drastic step. The other half this population had mentioned that their predicament was caused by their mothers being consistently depressed. However, both these causes are somewhat overlapping and includes the other. Another study by Wenz in 1989 revealed that frequent conflicts between the parents had a detrimental effect on the teenage child. The teenager can sense the tensions between his mother and his father and this causes huge emotional upheavals in his mental state. By this age, the young adult is usually aware of the sexual aspect of a couple’s relationship and thus knows the reason behind his birth. When he perceives problems in his parent’s relationship, the very reason behind his existence becomes shrouded in obscurity. In case, his parents decide to separate, this often becomes an emotional trauma for the child. He feels annoyed with his existence and often decides to end his life. Problems of Mental Health Teenagers are often found to suffer struggle with difficult emotions. Various social research studies have found that the youth aged between 18-25 years experience a variety of complex emotions in this modern society. Most of these young adults are at a loss to cope with such emotions. They keep these feelings pent up within themselves, which later turn into severe mental problems for them. The difficulties become a constant source of burden for the young adults are drive some of them into severe depression and finally committing suicide. Many noted social organizations have initiated their own campaigns to address this problem. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in the US Department of Health and Human Services has launched their teen suicide prevention project under the name of “We can Help Us” where teenagers having mental problems are linked to other peers in their age groups to share their thoughts and relieve some of their stress burden (Power, 2343-2346). Other Causes In 1997, Wagner studied the personality of teenagers who had committed suicide and distinguished three prototypical profiles among these youths: a child-driven profile, a reciprocal profile and a parent-driven profile. Teenagers who belonged to the “child-driven profile” were found to have resorted to suicide as an attempt to escape from some sort of prolonged suffering. Sometimes the young adult has been found to suffer from extreme psychopathology caused by some traumatic experience from the past. Children are often at the receiving end of physical and sexual abuse during their childhood while others do not receive proper care from their family. These incidents leave permanent scars on the child’s mind and they grow into self-doubting individuals bereft of self-confidence. The youths belonging to second prototype often attempt suicide as a result of a combination of their personal problems as well as that of their families. The teenager’s trauma may be caused by separation or loss of family members, history of childhood abuse, unstable relationships with his surroundings and poor relationship skills. Unable to cope with a host of such problems, he takes refuge under the act of self-killing. Teenagers belonging to the third category have been found to commit suicide to inflict punishment on a family member for having hurt him. Sometimes parents become overt in their reactions of disciplining the child. The latter may also be reprimanded for some of his actions which are usually not expected of him. The minds of the some of the young adults are extremely sensitive and vulnerable. Emotionally sensitive teenagers often take these harsh words to heart and search for a method to inflict a repercussive pain on the concerned person. In the heat of the moment, many children often resort to suicide for supposedly “teaching a lesson” to their guardians. Newspapers are replete with such incidents narrating fatal reactions among the youth. Conclusion The increased incidence of teenage suicide can be attributed to a host of reasons like the vulnerability in the adolescent years, tensions and conflicts in the family, misguided influence of the peers, inadequate parental support, mental health difficulties and so on. Many noted social organizations have launched their respective campaigns for the early detection and prevention of teenage suicides. Losing a child to a disease or an accident causes monumental suffering to the family. However, where the child himself resorts to suicide, his family is shocked, shattered and traumatized for life. Therefore, social researchers should direct all their efforts to devise ways of preventing its occurrence among teenagers. References 1. Maples, Finn., Packman, Jill., Abney Paul. et al, “Suicide by Teenagers in Middle School: A Postvention Team Approach” Journal of Counseling and Development (2005), 83. 397-405. 2. Power, Kathryn A. “Transforming the Nation’s Health: Next Steps in Mental Health Promotion” American Journal of Public Health (2010), 100. (12), 2343-2347 Read More