Victimization And Suicidal Behavior Research Paper
Required Reading #2: Adolescent Victimization and Associated Suicidal and Violent Behaviors.
Summary In this study the relationship between victimization and both suicidal and violent behaviors was studied in high school students across New York State with the exception of the city of New York. It was also sought to be seen if there are differences between male and females in this area. Females were shown to have a higher prevalence of suicidal tendencies only. In general it is thought that victimization can end up causing feelings of depression, or disillusionment which can in turn lead to suicidal tendencies and violence.
Detailed Section: The procedure was to administer the Youth Risk Behavior Survey to high school students in New …show more content…
York State (yay Yankees), 75 out of 100 selected schools participated and they had a student response rate of 85%. Once the test was administered students were split into 4 groups, 1-students who did not report any suicidal or violent behavior, 2- students who reported suicidal but not violent behavior, 3- students who did not report any suicidal behavior but did report violent behavior, 4- students who reported both. The final analysis was conducted on victimized students only.
Rationale: To investigate the association between victimization and violent or suicidal behaviors, and also to see if gender differences are present.
Methodology: Surveys and then computing software were used and the psychologists made use of the state education system in dispensing their tests.
Conclusions: Better intervention and prevention methods are needed to curb youth violence, the high schools must learn to recognize factors which may lead to problems with victimization, IE poor peer relations and low academic confidence.
Personal Comments: I believe that this article while informative needs some tweaking, it needs to survey a larger number of high schools across many states not just in one state; I also feel that this study should be an eye opener to high school administration and that they need to take the first steps to curb this …show more content…
problem.
Supplemental Article: Children Traumatized by Witnessing Acts of Personal Violence: Homicide, Rape or Suicide Behavior
Summary: This study centers on the fact that kids who witness horrific traumatizing events are more at risk for developing psychosocial problems later in life. The three events looked at here are murder or a parent, rape of a mother and suicidal acts committed by parents. When these events are witnessed they tend to lead to PTSD. The amount of exposure and stresses on childhood witnesses are also discussed here. This study is based in LA and in 10-20% of applicable homicides children were present. Child witnesses have a tendency to feel helpless and confused by the situation unfolding around them and often do not know how to respond to questions asked of them.
Detailed Section: This section is a discussion of the clinical observations made when I child witnesses a homicide, rape or suicide attempt. There are four factors which, " govern the onset and course of " PTSD in a child. The first is the symptoms which are unavoidable after a traumatic event. The second are the child's attempt to deal with the anxiety themselves, the third can be possible other influences which either positively or negatively affect the resolution of trauma. The fourth is the fact that the child might not be developed enough to have the skills needed to resolve trauma. Special interview techniques are used to get the child to volunteer the information as they perceive it. Intervention studies are necessary to evaluate the potentially adverse long term consequences on these children. The children studied in this study witnessed the loss of a parent by " brutal beatings, bloody stabbings or disfiguring gunshot wounds." The aggressors have been split into three categories, the other parent, a friend or relative, or a stranger, all consisting of about equal proportions. The interviews were conducted within weeks of the event so that they could observe the progression of the PTSD in the children. One of the main problems with children who experience traumatic events is that they have a recurrent memory of the event, which can interfere with their life. They tend to remember things very vividly, what was said, worn, the way in which something was done, the smallest detail may be remembered by them. These children may also while telling someone about what happened add in an alternate ending in which everything turns out ok. Human account-ability is another of the problems which children have trouble understanding when dealing with trauma. One of the final problems they must learn to deal with is the presence of scary fantasies and/or dreams of revenge.
Rationale
To understand how to better help children who experience trauma and that these kids are not getting enough attention in research.
Methodology:
Interviews seem to be the most common type of methodology; they get referrals of kids to test from other places like a police department or social services. The study only used one city, LA, not a good representative choice for the country because of its high crime rates.
Conclusions: basically that this topic needs to be better understood and researched in the case of children.
Personal Comments: It is understandable that they wanted to create awareness; however it would have been more helpful if they had done more research on preventing PTSD in children by immediate intervention, or some other method of coping.
Personal Article "The relationship of peer victimization to social anxiety and loneliness in adolescent females"
Summary:
This article focuses on a study whose goal was to find out if victimization was associated with social anxiety and loneliness in adolescent girls.
To perform this study they chose an all girls parochial school and surveyed 561 girls ages thirteen to seventeen. In this study two forms of victimization were focused on Relational victimization and overt victimization, the first being when a person attempts to harm not the person themselves but their relationship with their peers by for example spreading rumors, the overt victimization pertains to physical violence and threats of it. The reason this study was done on females and not males is because females tend to be more open about everything with their friends and tend to facilitate the use of relational victimization more often than boys. The girls also have a tendency to internalize more of the negative acts resulting in more psychological problems. This study had four goals, one, to report the rate of the two types of aggression in an all girls high school, two, " to examine the contributions of overt and relational victimization in predicting adolescent females fear of negative evaluation, social avoidance and loneliness[ ]"( Storch, 2004) , three, to see if girls who experienced both types of aggression were worse off than those who only experienced one of the types, four, " to examine pro-social behaviors from peers as a potential moderator from the negative psychosocial consequences of peer victimization. Used to
measure the social anxiety, loneliness and the rate of victimization were the, Social Experience Questionnaire, Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents, and Asher's Loneliness Sale. The results showed a correlation between the occurrences and psychosocial problems along with the value of pro-social peer relationships. This study also proved that two types of victimization are not better than one.
Rational:
To attempt to find where support and help is needed for adolescents so that they can enter the adult world well adjusted. They hypothesized that two occurrences were related and that the more victimization you experienced the more psychosocial behaviors you will have.
Methodology:
This study was done by questionnaires and in a parochial school with only girls present. Conclusions: The results showed a correlation between the occurrences and psychosocial problems along with the value of pro-social peer relationships. This study also proved that two types of victimization are not better than one.
Pro-social experiences deter bullies if they fear retaliation by friends.
Rate of occurrences- Moderate to High
Personal Comments: I do not agree with a lot of the practices in this article, it seems biased to me, doing the study in an all girls parochial school. Wouldn't one think that the victimization could be more harmful in an environment with the opposite sex present? This study should be redone in a variety of public High schools. Tie Up of Articles All of these articles relate to each other with the common threads of victimization and two of them are related in the area of adolescent violence and behavior as compared to victimization. All three articles are good and all three relate to the law in some way. In one of these articles the subjects were referred by officials of the law, and the other two hope to change a person's behavior and frame of mind so that they do not end up a criminal in the end.
Summary In this study the relationship between victimization and both suicidal and violent behaviors was studied in high school students across New York State with the exception of the city of New York. It was also sought to be seen if there are differences between male and females in this area. Females were shown to have a higher prevalence of suicidal tendencies only. In general it is thought that victimization can end up causing feelings of depression, or disillusionment which can in turn lead to suicidal tendencies and violence.
Detailed Section: The procedure was to administer the Youth Risk Behavior Survey to high school students in New …show more content…
York State (yay Yankees), 75 out of 100 selected schools participated and they had a student response rate of 85%. Once the test was administered students were split into 4 groups, 1-students who did not report any suicidal or violent behavior, 2- students who reported suicidal but not violent behavior, 3- students who did not report any suicidal behavior but did report violent behavior, 4- students who reported both. The final analysis was conducted on victimized students only.
Rationale: To investigate the association between victimization and violent or suicidal behaviors, and also to see if gender differences are present.
Methodology: Surveys and then computing software were used and the psychologists made use of the state education system in dispensing their tests.
Conclusions: Better intervention and prevention methods are needed to curb youth violence, the high schools must learn to recognize factors which may lead to problems with victimization, IE poor peer relations and low academic confidence.
Personal Comments: I believe that this article while informative needs some tweaking, it needs to survey a larger number of high schools across many states not just in one state; I also feel that this study should be an eye opener to high school administration and that they need to take the first steps to curb this …show more content…
problem.
Supplemental Article: Children Traumatized by Witnessing Acts of Personal Violence: Homicide, Rape or Suicide Behavior
Summary: This study centers on the fact that kids who witness horrific traumatizing events are more at risk for developing psychosocial problems later in life. The three events looked at here are murder or a parent, rape of a mother and suicidal acts committed by parents. When these events are witnessed they tend to lead to PTSD. The amount of exposure and stresses on childhood witnesses are also discussed here. This study is based in LA and in 10-20% of applicable homicides children were present. Child witnesses have a tendency to feel helpless and confused by the situation unfolding around them and often do not know how to respond to questions asked of them.
Detailed Section: This section is a discussion of the clinical observations made when I child witnesses a homicide, rape or suicide attempt. There are four factors which, " govern the onset and course of " PTSD in a child. The first is the symptoms which are unavoidable after a traumatic event. The second are the child's attempt to deal with the anxiety themselves, the third can be possible other influences which either positively or negatively affect the resolution of trauma. The fourth is the fact that the child might not be developed enough to have the skills needed to resolve trauma. Special interview techniques are used to get the child to volunteer the information as they perceive it. Intervention studies are necessary to evaluate the potentially adverse long term consequences on these children. The children studied in this study witnessed the loss of a parent by " brutal beatings, bloody stabbings or disfiguring gunshot wounds." The aggressors have been split into three categories, the other parent, a friend or relative, or a stranger, all consisting of about equal proportions. The interviews were conducted within weeks of the event so that they could observe the progression of the PTSD in the children. One of the main problems with children who experience traumatic events is that they have a recurrent memory of the event, which can interfere with their life. They tend to remember things very vividly, what was said, worn, the way in which something was done, the smallest detail may be remembered by them. These children may also while telling someone about what happened add in an alternate ending in which everything turns out ok. Human account-ability is another of the problems which children have trouble understanding when dealing with trauma. One of the final problems they must learn to deal with is the presence of scary fantasies and/or dreams of revenge.
Rationale
To understand how to better help children who experience trauma and that these kids are not getting enough attention in research.
Methodology:
Interviews seem to be the most common type of methodology; they get referrals of kids to test from other places like a police department or social services. The study only used one city, LA, not a good representative choice for the country because of its high crime rates.
Conclusions: basically that this topic needs to be better understood and researched in the case of children.
Personal Comments: It is understandable that they wanted to create awareness; however it would have been more helpful if they had done more research on preventing PTSD in children by immediate intervention, or some other method of coping.
Personal Article "The relationship of peer victimization to social anxiety and loneliness in adolescent females"
Summary:
This article focuses on a study whose goal was to find out if victimization was associated with social anxiety and loneliness in adolescent girls.
To perform this study they chose an all girls parochial school and surveyed 561 girls ages thirteen to seventeen. In this study two forms of victimization were focused on Relational victimization and overt victimization, the first being when a person attempts to harm not the person themselves but their relationship with their peers by for example spreading rumors, the overt victimization pertains to physical violence and threats of it. The reason this study was done on females and not males is because females tend to be more open about everything with their friends and tend to facilitate the use of relational victimization more often than boys. The girls also have a tendency to internalize more of the negative acts resulting in more psychological problems. This study had four goals, one, to report the rate of the two types of aggression in an all girls high school, two, " to examine the contributions of overt and relational victimization in predicting adolescent females fear of negative evaluation, social avoidance and loneliness[ ]"( Storch, 2004) , three, to see if girls who experienced both types of aggression were worse off than those who only experienced one of the types, four, " to examine pro-social behaviors from peers as a potential moderator from the negative psychosocial consequences of peer victimization. Used to
measure the social anxiety, loneliness and the rate of victimization were the, Social Experience Questionnaire, Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents, and Asher's Loneliness Sale. The results showed a correlation between the occurrences and psychosocial problems along with the value of pro-social peer relationships. This study also proved that two types of victimization are not better than one.
Rational:
To attempt to find where support and help is needed for adolescents so that they can enter the adult world well adjusted. They hypothesized that two occurrences were related and that the more victimization you experienced the more psychosocial behaviors you will have.
Methodology:
This study was done by questionnaires and in a parochial school with only girls present. Conclusions: The results showed a correlation between the occurrences and psychosocial problems along with the value of pro-social peer relationships. This study also proved that two types of victimization are not better than one.
Pro-social experiences deter bullies if they fear retaliation by friends.
Rate of occurrences- Moderate to High
Personal Comments: I do not agree with a lot of the practices in this article, it seems biased to me, doing the study in an all girls parochial school. Wouldn't one think that the victimization could be more harmful in an environment with the opposite sex present? This study should be redone in a variety of public High schools. Tie Up of Articles All of these articles relate to each other with the common threads of victimization and two of them are related in the area of adolescent violence and behavior as compared to victimization. All three articles are good and all three relate to the law in some way. In one of these articles the subjects were referred by officials of the law, and the other two hope to change a person's behavior and frame of mind so that they do not end up a criminal in the end.