Teenage Suicide

Essay by Anonymous UserCollege, UndergraduateA, April 1997

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Teenage Suicide

The killing of own life intentionally is referred as suicide. Over the past

years, American society has been concerned about this issue, especially

teenage suicide. The suicide rate among teenagers is not constant for a period

of time; it keeps changing over time. Most of the time, the suicide rate among

boys is greater than that among girls.

Different types of people in our society respond to this issue in different

ways. Earlier in this year, some 932 parents of adolescents completed a

questionnaire of 30 common psychological medical concerns of adolescence,

among which suicide was one item. They were asked how important it is for

pediatricians to discuss these with their kids during checkups. The result

showed that more than 66% of the parents being questioned said 29 of the 30

items were important to be discussed with their teenage children. This survey

showed that American parents are somehow concerned about suicide among

teenagers. This concern is pervasive among American teenagers. In 1993, a

national survey of adolescents about their knowledge of, and attitudes toward,

youth suicide was made. The survey reulted that 60% of the teenagers reported

knowing another teen who had attempted suicide while 6% reported having

make an attempt themselves.

The above two examples indicates that it is very important for parents,

counselors, or different institutions to become aware of the reasons and

symptons of teenage suicide and to find out possible preventive procedures.

Recently, an examination of suicide rates among Black and White adolescents

from 1986 to 1991 was made. It showed that suicide rate among girls of all

ethnicities remained stable. Also, the rate for White boys were pretty much

stabilized; however, the rate for Black and other minority boys increased

significantly. Those increases were more rapid in areas where suicide rates...