Teen Suicide Related To Substance Abuse
Teen Suicide Related to Substance Abuse
TEEN SUICIDE RELATED TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE
The greatest health threats for today’s teens are behavioral rather than medical. Many, though not all, teens engage in behaviors that might be considered threatening to their health and well-being; furthermore, adolescents partake in risky and dangerous behaviors including drug and alcohol use and abuse at increasingly younger ages (Adger & DeAngelia, 2004). Linked to teen substance abuse is the most deviant issue of teen suicide; over the past three decades, adolescent suicide rates have increased significantly; suicide is now the third leading cause of death among persons age 15 to 14 years old . Intervention and prevention efforts …show more content…
designed to reduce the incidence of adolescent suicide have been only marginally successful (Shreve & Kunkel, 1991). The issue of the relationship between teen suicide and teenage substance abuse is significant, and needs to be further reviewed. The current information available on this topic indicates that numerous adolescents experience difficulty in coping with anxiety, depression, and stress, and that those who engage in various risk-taking behaviors – promiscuous sexual intercourse, substance abuse, and so forth – show a greater incidence of attempted and completed suicide (Spirito, et. al., 1992). Society in general has reacted to this problem by displaying concern, revulsion, and a degree of horrified fascination, but has yet to develop effective preventive interventions (Garland & Zigler, 2009). Henry, Stephenson, Hanson, and Margett (1993) found that suicide is an issue of escalating concern for those who work with adolescents and their families. Noting that the rate of adolescent suicide has grown noticeably over the past thirty years and that it is the third leading cause of death among this age group, the researchers found that none of the traditional theoretical approaches to suicide – Durkheim’s sociological theory, social learning theory, psychological or family systems theory – were sufficient to account for suicide. They suggested an ecological theory that associates factors of adolescent suicide with events involving the person as an individual entity, as well as the microsystem, nesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem levels of a youth’s interaction with the environment. Henry (1993), also offered examples of prevention and intervention at each of these levels, but suggested further research and refinement of their model. In addition, they noted that personal and social attitudes regarding adolescent suicide tend to be guided by the shocking aspects of these tragedies, rather than the factors leading up to the event. Garland and Zigler (2009) also described the growing rate of teen suicide and the general lack of public knowledge as to its causes and prevention. They describe these efforts as ill-informed though well-intentioned, sometimes ineffective, inefficient and even harmful. Among the major risk factors contributing to adolescent suicide include access to firearms, affective illness, antisocial behavior, conduct disorders, a familial history of suicide, promiscuous sexuality, and substance abuse. They noted that efforts to identify and treat at-risk youth increase following exposure to suicide; showing, public attitudes toward suicide tend to be largely uninformed, due to a lack of proper, meaningful and informative publicity regarding the subject. In 1993, Kaplan and Maldaver described the effects of specific types of parental structures on completed adolescent suicide. Parental types showing inconsistency between individuation and attachment were more highly associated with adolescent suicidal behavior than were those demonstrating congruity between these two factors. They concluded that parental inconsistency toward their offspring can be a determining factor in suicide attempts or completed suicide. Lewisohn, Rohde, and Seeley (2010) examined a compendium of psychological risk factors associated with adolescent suicide, in a large-scale survey incorporating a sample of fourteen thousand high school students; twenty-six members of the population had initiated a suicide attempt within one year of entering into the survey. These researchers added several risk factors to those described above; in addition to depression, family history of suicide, and substance abuse, they found that current suicidal ideation, a history of prior suicide attempts, recent attempts by a friend, low self-esteem, and having been born to a teenage mother were major risk factors. Their results correlated with those of Adcock (2006), and Henry (1993), by indicating that adolescents who are depressed and those who attempt suicide share many psychological risk factors. They also suggested that educational campaigns be mounted to inform both adolescents and the professional, adult community about suicide and about the linkage between teen suicide and drug abuse. The research team of Spirito, Plumner, Gispert, Levy, Kurkjian, Lewander, Hagberg, and Devost (1992) conducted a study of adolescents hospitalized for attempted suicide in either a medical emergency or psychiatric unit. Follow-up interviews of the subjects were conducted at one and three month intervals. Findings reported substantial dropout rates from recommended psychotherapeutic interventions and high rates of repeated suicide at three months. Also noteworthy was a general lack of understanding of the causes of suicide attempts on the part of both its victims and their immediate families; no larger-scale studies of a more general population were implemented, limiting the scope of the study’s implications for disposition planning and the care of adolescents with this problem. Interestingly, these researchers also found high correlations between substance abuse and suicide attempts, tendencies, and threats. Shreve and Kunkel (1991) discussed the role of shame in adolescent suicidal behavior, employing the model of psychoanalytic self-psychology as their theoretical basis. They described shame as the central component of suicidal behavior within the context of adolescence, a fundamental stage in the development of one’s self. Shreve and Kunkel (1991) discussed differences between normal and pathological self-development, as well as critical issues pertaining to the development of the self during adolescence. They indicated that uninformed public attitudes regarding adolescent suicide are insufficient to deter the lower self-esteem that contributes to the unfortunate phenomena. The data supporting the belief expressed by social scientists and criminologists that teen drug use is again on the rise is substantive. For example, Adger and DeAngelis (2004) have stated that almost half of all American adolescents have used an illicit drug before they finish high school, and twenty-five percent have used an illicit drug other than marijuana. Marijuana is by far the most widely used illicit drug among members of this population, with thirty-three percent of high school seniors in 1992 reporting some use during their lifetime (Johnston and O’Malley, 1993). Among all American adolescents, fifteen percents have used or continue to use marijuana, eight percent report having used some type of inhalant, three to five percent have used cocaine, and three percent have used a hallucinogen such as LSD (Adger & DeAngelis, 2004). John E. Franklin reported that the results of a national study of adolescent drug and alcohol use indicated that after a five-year drop in the use of illicit drugs by high school seniors, there are early indications of a rise in the percentage of eighth graders who have tried both marijuana and inhalants (Franklin, 1994). This is particularly disturbing in light of the before mentioned rise in teen suicide rates. Janowsky (1993) reported in The New York Times that one of the causes for the continued use (and some observed increases in use or lowering of the age at which use begins) of illicit drugs among younger Americans in the “glamorizing” of drugs by the entertainment industry. Janowsky (1993) cited the results of a study conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research which included a sample of fifty thousand students from four hundred and twenty private and public American high schools; in the study, one of every four high school sophomores and one in three seniors claimed to have smoked marijuana at least once in the last three years. This suggests an increase of at least six percentage points among the tenth graders and four percentage points among the seniors participating in the study. Ninth graders, however, reported a thirteen percent use of marijuana, as compared to only nine percent in 1992 (Janowsky, 1993). The study also reported that students in each of those grades, which are surveyed each year for comparison purposes, reported using cocaine, crack, hallucinogenic drugs, heroin and stimulants at least one in the last year at marginally higher rates for a second consecutive year. Further, the study reported no statistically significant differences in illicit drug use rates or patterns when male and female students self-reports were compared (Janowsky, 1993). Finally, Janowsky (1993) noted a correlation between suicide and attempted suicide and “heavy” or addictive substance abuse. Coleman (1986) has noted that while most adolescents who engage in illicit drug use do so experimentally, some tend to become addicted and to engage in other behaviors that are also self-damaging including both self-destructive acts like suicide or attempted suicide and crimes.
Among young adults arrested or convicted for criminal acts such as burglary, vandalism, theft, and assault (with or without weapons), drug use appears to be widespread. Similarly, among youth gangs, both drug use and drug sales are commonplace. Educators as well as social service professionals exhibit concern at the increase in drug use among poor, inner-city school-age adolescents who often come from minority cultures. The Michigan Institute for Social Research has been tracking adolescent drug use since 1975. According to Janowsky (1993), the Institute’s longitudinal research has demonstrated that whereas illicit drug use among this population increased annually into the early 1980s, a gradual tapering off took place in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At that point, use rates began to increase again, with the corresponding effect of an earlier age at time of first use. According to Janowsky (1993), the Michigan study revealed that once again, young people are coming to view some type of drug use as glamorous; further, these same young people indicated that they did not believe that the stated risks associated were legitimate, as is evident by an across-the-board decrease in the total number …show more content…
and percentage of study participants who stated that smoking marijuana was potentially harmful. Further, these same subjects indicated that the relatively light (and equally scarce) sentences allocated to adolescents caught using drugs was a further reflection of a legal and social perception that the supposed risks of illicit drugs were overstated. These data tend to disregard the very real and disturbing connection between teen suicide and substance abuse. Many different researchers have noted the correlation of the deviant acts of teen suicide and substance abuse. It is clear that the factor of drug use increases at-risk youth’s chances of a suicide attempt. Though, there may be other related factors, drug use stands out considerably. With more efforts from society both deviant acts of drug use and teen suicide could be prevented. All should do their part to help reduce these numbers of unnecessary tragedies.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adcock, A., Nagy, S., & Simpson, J. A. (2006). Selected risk factors in adolescent suicide attempts. Adolescence, 26: 817-29.
Adger, H., & DeAngellis, C. (2004). Adolescent medicine. Journal of the American Medical Association, 271: 1651-1653.
Barish, S. (1992). Responding to adolescent suicide. Education Digest, 57: 61-65.
Coleman, J.C.
(1986). Abnormal Psychology. Glenview, Il.: Scott Foresman.
DeLamater, J. D., & Myers, D. J. (2011). Social Psychology. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Franklin, J. W. (1994). Addiction medicine. Journal of the American Medical Association, 271: 1650-1651.
Garland, A. F., & Zigler, E. (2009). Adolescent suicide prevention. American Psychologist, 48: 169-83.
Henry, C. S., Stephenson, A. L., Hanson, M. F., & Margett, W. (1993). Adolescent suicide and families. Adolescence, 28: 291-309.
Janowsky, M. (1993, December 13). Survey reports more drug use by teenagers. The New York Times
Johnston, L. D., & O’Malley, P. M. (1993). National Study Result on Drug Abuse. Baltimore, Md: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Kaplan, K. J., & Maldaver, M. (1993). Parental marital style and completed adolescent suicide. Omega - The Journal of Death and Dying, 77: 131-55.
Lewisohn, P. M., Rohde, P., & Seeley, J. R. (2010). Psychological risk factors for future adolescent suicide attempts. Journal of Clinical & Counseling Psychology, 62: 297-306.
Shreve, B. M., & Kunkel, M. G. (1991). Self-psychology, shame & adolescent suicide. Journal of Counseling & Development, 69:
305-12.
Spirito, A., Plumner, B., Gispert, M., Levy, S., Kurkjian, J., Lewander, W., Hagbert, S., & Devost, L. (1992). Adolescent suicide attempts. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 62: 464-69.
TEEN SUICIDE RELATED TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE
The greatest health threats for today’s teens are behavioral rather than medical. Many, though not all, teens engage in behaviors that might be considered threatening to their health and well-being; furthermore, adolescents partake in risky and dangerous behaviors including drug and alcohol use and abuse at increasingly younger ages (Adger & DeAngelia, 2004). Linked to teen substance abuse is the most deviant issue of teen suicide; over the past three decades, adolescent suicide rates have increased significantly; suicide is now the third leading cause of death among persons age 15 to 14 years old . Intervention and prevention efforts …show more content…
designed to reduce the incidence of adolescent suicide have been only marginally successful (Shreve & Kunkel, 1991). The issue of the relationship between teen suicide and teenage substance abuse is significant, and needs to be further reviewed. The current information available on this topic indicates that numerous adolescents experience difficulty in coping with anxiety, depression, and stress, and that those who engage in various risk-taking behaviors – promiscuous sexual intercourse, substance abuse, and so forth – show a greater incidence of attempted and completed suicide (Spirito, et. al., 1992). Society in general has reacted to this problem by displaying concern, revulsion, and a degree of horrified fascination, but has yet to develop effective preventive interventions (Garland & Zigler, 2009). Henry, Stephenson, Hanson, and Margett (1993) found that suicide is an issue of escalating concern for those who work with adolescents and their families. Noting that the rate of adolescent suicide has grown noticeably over the past thirty years and that it is the third leading cause of death among this age group, the researchers found that none of the traditional theoretical approaches to suicide – Durkheim’s sociological theory, social learning theory, psychological or family systems theory – were sufficient to account for suicide. They suggested an ecological theory that associates factors of adolescent suicide with events involving the person as an individual entity, as well as the microsystem, nesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem levels of a youth’s interaction with the environment. Henry (1993), also offered examples of prevention and intervention at each of these levels, but suggested further research and refinement of their model. In addition, they noted that personal and social attitudes regarding adolescent suicide tend to be guided by the shocking aspects of these tragedies, rather than the factors leading up to the event. Garland and Zigler (2009) also described the growing rate of teen suicide and the general lack of public knowledge as to its causes and prevention. They describe these efforts as ill-informed though well-intentioned, sometimes ineffective, inefficient and even harmful. Among the major risk factors contributing to adolescent suicide include access to firearms, affective illness, antisocial behavior, conduct disorders, a familial history of suicide, promiscuous sexuality, and substance abuse. They noted that efforts to identify and treat at-risk youth increase following exposure to suicide; showing, public attitudes toward suicide tend to be largely uninformed, due to a lack of proper, meaningful and informative publicity regarding the subject. In 1993, Kaplan and Maldaver described the effects of specific types of parental structures on completed adolescent suicide. Parental types showing inconsistency between individuation and attachment were more highly associated with adolescent suicidal behavior than were those demonstrating congruity between these two factors. They concluded that parental inconsistency toward their offspring can be a determining factor in suicide attempts or completed suicide. Lewisohn, Rohde, and Seeley (2010) examined a compendium of psychological risk factors associated with adolescent suicide, in a large-scale survey incorporating a sample of fourteen thousand high school students; twenty-six members of the population had initiated a suicide attempt within one year of entering into the survey. These researchers added several risk factors to those described above; in addition to depression, family history of suicide, and substance abuse, they found that current suicidal ideation, a history of prior suicide attempts, recent attempts by a friend, low self-esteem, and having been born to a teenage mother were major risk factors. Their results correlated with those of Adcock (2006), and Henry (1993), by indicating that adolescents who are depressed and those who attempt suicide share many psychological risk factors. They also suggested that educational campaigns be mounted to inform both adolescents and the professional, adult community about suicide and about the linkage between teen suicide and drug abuse. The research team of Spirito, Plumner, Gispert, Levy, Kurkjian, Lewander, Hagberg, and Devost (1992) conducted a study of adolescents hospitalized for attempted suicide in either a medical emergency or psychiatric unit. Follow-up interviews of the subjects were conducted at one and three month intervals. Findings reported substantial dropout rates from recommended psychotherapeutic interventions and high rates of repeated suicide at three months. Also noteworthy was a general lack of understanding of the causes of suicide attempts on the part of both its victims and their immediate families; no larger-scale studies of a more general population were implemented, limiting the scope of the study’s implications for disposition planning and the care of adolescents with this problem. Interestingly, these researchers also found high correlations between substance abuse and suicide attempts, tendencies, and threats. Shreve and Kunkel (1991) discussed the role of shame in adolescent suicidal behavior, employing the model of psychoanalytic self-psychology as their theoretical basis. They described shame as the central component of suicidal behavior within the context of adolescence, a fundamental stage in the development of one’s self. Shreve and Kunkel (1991) discussed differences between normal and pathological self-development, as well as critical issues pertaining to the development of the self during adolescence. They indicated that uninformed public attitudes regarding adolescent suicide are insufficient to deter the lower self-esteem that contributes to the unfortunate phenomena. The data supporting the belief expressed by social scientists and criminologists that teen drug use is again on the rise is substantive. For example, Adger and DeAngelis (2004) have stated that almost half of all American adolescents have used an illicit drug before they finish high school, and twenty-five percent have used an illicit drug other than marijuana. Marijuana is by far the most widely used illicit drug among members of this population, with thirty-three percent of high school seniors in 1992 reporting some use during their lifetime (Johnston and O’Malley, 1993). Among all American adolescents, fifteen percents have used or continue to use marijuana, eight percent report having used some type of inhalant, three to five percent have used cocaine, and three percent have used a hallucinogen such as LSD (Adger & DeAngelis, 2004). John E. Franklin reported that the results of a national study of adolescent drug and alcohol use indicated that after a five-year drop in the use of illicit drugs by high school seniors, there are early indications of a rise in the percentage of eighth graders who have tried both marijuana and inhalants (Franklin, 1994). This is particularly disturbing in light of the before mentioned rise in teen suicide rates. Janowsky (1993) reported in The New York Times that one of the causes for the continued use (and some observed increases in use or lowering of the age at which use begins) of illicit drugs among younger Americans in the “glamorizing” of drugs by the entertainment industry. Janowsky (1993) cited the results of a study conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research which included a sample of fifty thousand students from four hundred and twenty private and public American high schools; in the study, one of every four high school sophomores and one in three seniors claimed to have smoked marijuana at least once in the last three years. This suggests an increase of at least six percentage points among the tenth graders and four percentage points among the seniors participating in the study. Ninth graders, however, reported a thirteen percent use of marijuana, as compared to only nine percent in 1992 (Janowsky, 1993). The study also reported that students in each of those grades, which are surveyed each year for comparison purposes, reported using cocaine, crack, hallucinogenic drugs, heroin and stimulants at least one in the last year at marginally higher rates for a second consecutive year. Further, the study reported no statistically significant differences in illicit drug use rates or patterns when male and female students self-reports were compared (Janowsky, 1993). Finally, Janowsky (1993) noted a correlation between suicide and attempted suicide and “heavy” or addictive substance abuse. Coleman (1986) has noted that while most adolescents who engage in illicit drug use do so experimentally, some tend to become addicted and to engage in other behaviors that are also self-damaging including both self-destructive acts like suicide or attempted suicide and crimes.
Among young adults arrested or convicted for criminal acts such as burglary, vandalism, theft, and assault (with or without weapons), drug use appears to be widespread. Similarly, among youth gangs, both drug use and drug sales are commonplace. Educators as well as social service professionals exhibit concern at the increase in drug use among poor, inner-city school-age adolescents who often come from minority cultures. The Michigan Institute for Social Research has been tracking adolescent drug use since 1975. According to Janowsky (1993), the Institute’s longitudinal research has demonstrated that whereas illicit drug use among this population increased annually into the early 1980s, a gradual tapering off took place in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At that point, use rates began to increase again, with the corresponding effect of an earlier age at time of first use. According to Janowsky (1993), the Michigan study revealed that once again, young people are coming to view some type of drug use as glamorous; further, these same young people indicated that they did not believe that the stated risks associated were legitimate, as is evident by an across-the-board decrease in the total number …show more content…
and percentage of study participants who stated that smoking marijuana was potentially harmful. Further, these same subjects indicated that the relatively light (and equally scarce) sentences allocated to adolescents caught using drugs was a further reflection of a legal and social perception that the supposed risks of illicit drugs were overstated. These data tend to disregard the very real and disturbing connection between teen suicide and substance abuse. Many different researchers have noted the correlation of the deviant acts of teen suicide and substance abuse. It is clear that the factor of drug use increases at-risk youth’s chances of a suicide attempt. Though, there may be other related factors, drug use stands out considerably. With more efforts from society both deviant acts of drug use and teen suicide could be prevented. All should do their part to help reduce these numbers of unnecessary tragedies.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adcock, A., Nagy, S., & Simpson, J. A. (2006). Selected risk factors in adolescent suicide attempts. Adolescence, 26: 817-29.
Adger, H., & DeAngellis, C. (2004). Adolescent medicine. Journal of the American Medical Association, 271: 1651-1653.
Barish, S. (1992). Responding to adolescent suicide. Education Digest, 57: 61-65.
Coleman, J.C.
(1986). Abnormal Psychology. Glenview, Il.: Scott Foresman.
DeLamater, J. D., & Myers, D. J. (2011). Social Psychology. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Franklin, J. W. (1994). Addiction medicine. Journal of the American Medical Association, 271: 1650-1651.
Garland, A. F., & Zigler, E. (2009). Adolescent suicide prevention. American Psychologist, 48: 169-83.
Henry, C. S., Stephenson, A. L., Hanson, M. F., & Margett, W. (1993). Adolescent suicide and families. Adolescence, 28: 291-309.
Janowsky, M. (1993, December 13). Survey reports more drug use by teenagers. The New York Times
Johnston, L. D., & O’Malley, P. M. (1993). National Study Result on Drug Abuse. Baltimore, Md: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Kaplan, K. J., & Maldaver, M. (1993). Parental marital style and completed adolescent suicide. Omega - The Journal of Death and Dying, 77: 131-55.
Lewisohn, P. M., Rohde, P., & Seeley, J. R. (2010). Psychological risk factors for future adolescent suicide attempts. Journal of Clinical & Counseling Psychology, 62: 297-306.
Shreve, B. M., & Kunkel, M. G. (1991). Self-psychology, shame & adolescent suicide. Journal of Counseling & Development, 69:
305-12.
Spirito, A., Plumner, B., Gispert, M., Levy, S., Kurkjian, J., Lewander, W., Hagbert, S., & Devost, L. (1992). Adolescent suicide attempts. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 62: 464-69.