Causes of Teenage Suicide Essay

The American psychological Association states that, Teen self-annihilation is a developing health concern. It is the 3rd- protr toying cause of ending for young deal ages 15 to 24 (Teen self-annihilation is Pr make uptable). As spring chicken self-annihilations argon becoming more publicized, rescript is gradually becoming more aware of this global concern. Although most pot do not perceive why teenagedrs commit suicide, the collar loving sciences, anthropology, sociology, and psychology, provide insights that go beyond what the media reports as causes because through cross pagan studies, they provide in reachation of many societal and psychological processes which confirm and overdraw on our dread of this complex issue.Most plenty only clear puerile suicide to the points expressed by the media. The media claims that the suicide risks are higher(prenominal) for those who go through depression, anxiety, mental illness, substance pervert, social isolation, bullyin g, or knowledgeable abuse, and in like manner for those who thrust disabilities or are LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender) young person. The media also claims that LGBT callownessfulness gestate higher suicide risks than former(a)s as they tend to have added emphasize and high levels of anxiety and depression, and are likely targets for bullies (Teen Suicide, 2011). The facts proven my the media are not to be underestimates, however, the media is often ignorant virtually how teen suicide whole kit and caboodle in other cultures. Teenage suicides in other societies work in different ways than in our Western lodge. On the islands of Micr atomic number 53sia, suicide has take a regular ritual for teenagers (Gladwell, 2002, p. 218). This act, considered mindless in our society, is an important form of self-expression in theirs (Gladwell, 2002, p. 220). The adolescent suicide epidemic of Micronesia can well be compared to the teen smoking epidemic of our society. L ike smoking in Western and European cultures, young people experiment suicide in Micronesia. Anthropologist Donald Rubinstein noted that in Micronesia, boys as young as 5 old age old lean on a noose where unconsciousness follows, for data-based play (Gladwell, 2002, p. 219). They risk dying from anoxia, the shortage of blood to the brain (Gladwell, 2002, p. 218), as teens in our society risk dying from lung cancer or other illnesses. Youth suicides on the islands are becoming more frequent in communities as younger boys are affected by the contagiousself-epidemic of self-destruction, as younger people in Western and European cultures are by smoking, in forms of experimentation, imitation, self-expression, and rebellion (Gladwell, 2002 p. 219-220). Like Gladwell (2002) said, the way we have tended to think about the causes of smoking doesnt make much sense, as do the ways we think about the causes of suicide (p. 221). It is unkn avow of how to fully baffle it or to even fully compr ehend what it is. People smoke even though the overestimate the risks and suicide victims are equally aware of the solutions when they steady down to end their own life (Gladwell, 2002, p. 221).The three social sciences provide everlasting(a) insights of the suicidal triggers displayed by media. In the situation of the Innu adolescent suicides where youth breathe in gasoline, anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists, identify causes that are unfamiliar to most people. Anthropologists observed substance abuse and family violence among Innu families, which are clear signs of heathenish calve (The Innu, 2001). Cultural collapse occurs as they lose effective control of their lives, in this case, by the administration and immigrant populations. They lose their self-esteem and their value of lives (The Innu, 2001). The Statistical Profile on the health of the First Nations in Canada for the year 2000 shows that suicide and self-inflicted injuries are the leading causes of d eath for First Nations youth (First Nations, 2013). Statistics show that the suicide pace for First Nations youth is around 5 or 6 times greater than of non-Aboriginal youth. The suicide rate for First Nations males is 126 per 100,000 compared to 24 per 100,000 non-Aboriginal males, and the rate for First Nations females is 35 per 100,000 compared to 5 per 100,000 for non-Aboriginal females (First Nations, 2013). Sociologists have blamed colonialism and past government policies such as residential schools contributing to a sense of powerlessness and inferiority among the Innu youth. This has led to escalating levels of self-disgust and self-destructive behaviour (The Innu, 2001). Cultural hegemony has make the Innu feel inferior that their cultural practices have no value or place in the moderne world (The Innu, 2001). The suicides of the Innu youth would be anomic suicide, which is a suicide that is caused by the failure of social order (Summary, n.d.). It occurs when rapid and e xtreme changes in society overwhelm and threaten a root word.Theindividuals would make up uncertain of what behaviour is anticipate of them, leading to role mental confusion and then the act of taking ones life (Kok & Goh, n.d.). From a psychologists point of view, role confusion is a key factor in the emotional disturbance of the Innu youth (The Innu, 2001). According to Maslows hierarchy of require, the Innu do not even have their eldest and basic needs cosmos met (McLeod, 2007). They do not have running water, sewage disposal, and proper insulation for Canadian winters (The Innu, 2001). They also so not have their second and third needs which are base hit needs and social needs. They do not feel secure and serious in the environment they live in and they lack social needs of belongingness, love, and relationships with others (McLeod, 2007). And because they do not have these maiden three needs, they cannot move up the hierarchy and achieve esteem needs of achievement an d independence, and self-actualization needs of desire personal goals (McLeod, 2007). Psychologist Erik Erikson notes that youth must resolve two life crises, the first being the crisis of identity vs. identity confusion.The individual must find their own unique identity and have a sense of belonging at the same time. If they are unsuccessful, they can become socially disconnected or develop an exaggerated sense of self-importance, and therefore end up being unable to be emotionally mature adults (Oswalt, n.d.). The second crisis is the crisis of intimacy vs. isolation, where youth must learn to maintain close relationships with others. If they are unsuccessful, they can become self-contained, needy, dependent, isolated, or vulnerable, and unable to have honest or mutual relationships (Oswalt, n.d.). The situations presented my Maslow and Erikson lead to results of the teenagers being aimless and lacking purpose in life, because of a befogged sense of self. This second crisis appl ies well to the Micronesian youth, who end their lives as a result of not being able to emotionally deal with a domestic inspection and repair conflict within a domestic relationship. There was a teenage boy who committed suicide because his parents would not give him a a couple of(prenominal) dollars for beer, another(prenominal) who ended his life because he was scolded by his brother for making too much noise, and a number of teen boys who killed themselves because they saw their girlfriends with another boy (Gladwell, 2002, p. 217-218). Many adolescents in Micronesia become emotionally open and commit suicide as actions of self-pity and protest against mistreatment (Gladwell, 2002, p. 218).We can understand that suicide involves many societal and psychological processes which confirm and expand on our understanding of this complex issue. In Micronesia and lacquer, the youth suicides are classified as egoistic, which is caused by excessive individualism (Summary, n.d.). It o ccurs when an individual is overwhelmed by a group and they isolate themselves as they become excessively independent (Kok & Goh,n.d.). In Japan the Aokigahara Forest, also known as the suicide woods on lift Fuji, is a place where individuals commit suicide, usually by hanging, after discriminate themselves completely by hiding in the wilderness of the forest. Those who still suspect about ending their lives walk in the forest while deviation a trail of coloured tape so that they do not get lost, and others camp for a few days in the wilderness before making their final decision (Suicide Forest, 2012). The suicides in the suicide forest improverd in number as it was gradually publicized, starting with a novel by Kuroi Jukai, where a young lover commits suicide in a forest (Suicide Forest, 2012). Since then, the suicide numbers reached over 100 deaths a year. The area holds so many bodies that homeless people are compensable to remove the corpses (Suicide Forest, 2012). Socio logist David Philips conducted a number of studies on suicide and the results concluded that suicides are influenced by the contagious effect (Gladwell, 2002, p. 222).Immediately after stories of suicides appeared locally, the number of suicides in that area jumped. When there was a suicide story publicized home(a)ly, the national suicide rate jumped (Gladwell, 2002, p. 222). This contagious effect is an act of imitation, and Philip states that it is a authorization to act from someone else who is engaging in a deviant act (Gladwell, 2002, 223). This applies to the cases of suicides that continue to take place in the suicide forest and also in Micronesia. In the early 1960s, suicide in Micronesia was extremely rare and yet by the end of the 1980s the suicide rate was higher than anywhere else in the world (Gladwell, 2002, p. 217). According to Statistics Canada, the suicide rate in 2009 for Canadian males between 15 and 24 was about 15 per 100,000. In contrast, the suicide rate i n Micronesia for males between 15 and 24 is 160 per 100,000 (Gladwell, 2002, 217). In a community on the Micronesian island of Ebeye, the first suicide in that area led to a second, third, and twenty louvre more over twelve years (Gladwell,2002, p. 226). Further studies show that people who are influenced by the contagious effect commit suicide utilize the same manner as the one used in the takings they were effected by. Stories of suicide where the victim was a device driver resulted in an increase in single-car crashes. Stories of suicide-murders resulted in an increase in car crashes with victims of a driver and passengers (Gladwell, 2002, p. 224). This copycat suicide is common among youth, and is displayed in Micronesia. Almost all the suicide cases of teenagers take place in a remote spot or empty house, and involve a specific process of hanging by leaning on a noose until unconscious and dying from anoxia, the method that children play around with (Gladwell, 2002, 218). A nd because of this contagious effect, the media takes precautions when publicizing suicides. For example, some suicides in the Toronto electron tube systems are never reported in the press (Teen Suicide, 2011).Even though most do not understand why teenagers commit suicide, the three social sciences provide information to expand our understanding of this complex issue. Anthropologists help us to understand how suicide is affected by the way people live, and how people in different cultures respond to suicide, such as the flyspeck boys in Micronesia who experiment with it. Sociologists have figured out the contagiousness of a suicide and how easily it can cause others. Psychologists help us to understand what teenagers deal with, such as the two crises that Erik Erikson has noted. With these thorough understandings provided by the social sciences, people should be able to be aware of what causes teenage suicide, as it can happen anywhere at anytime and an effort should be made to p revent it. Already many communities have taken action to take aim awareness of teen suicide, inspired by suicides of loved ones, so that it whitethorn be looked for and be prevented. There is no simple solution to adolescent suicide, however, efforts can be made to avert as many as possible.ReferencesFirst Nations and Inuit Health (2013, February 4). Health Canada. Retrieved phratry 25, 2013, from http//www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fniah-spnia/promotion/mental/index-eng.php Gladwell, M. (2002). The Tipping Point. Boston, MA Back Bay Books. Kok, J.K. & Goh, L.Y. (n.d.). Anomic or Egoistic Suicide Suicide Factors among MalaysianYouths. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http//www.ijssh.org/papers/67-H083.pdf McLeod, capital of Minnesota (2007). Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. Simply Psychology. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http//www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html Oswalt, Angela (n.d.). Erik Erikson and Self-Identity. Seven Counties Services. 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