Suicide Rates of African-American Youth - Research Paper Example

Suicide Rates of African-American Youth Introduction This paper deals with in-depth analysis on one of the critical health science and social issues which is suicide rate of African-American youth. This study is intended to identify the key factors associated with the increase in suicide rates among the African American youth. These factors includes pattern and rate of suicide across the life span of the community, the cultural factors affecting the suicide patterns of the concerned community, protective and risk factors related to it and implication of various pattern related to early intervention and prevention of suicide. The highest number of suicide was committed by the African American youth between the age group of 15 to 19 years. The racial disparities are considered as one of the main element in increasing the rate of suicide attempted by the community. The research statement of this research paper is determining the suicide rates of African American youth and the main causes behind this. Literature Review The researchers Baumana, Toomey and Walkerc, in their article, focused on the influence of culture on the African American suicidal rates. Belief and the religion played an important role in influencing the African American youth in committing suicide. It continued from the past that the Africans are bound to face discrimination and poverty in this life in order to deserve better life thereafter. Therefore, the African-American subscribed to the values of resilience, endurance and persistence in the face of adversity. This can be observed from the rising rate of suicide during the period ranging from 1986 to 1991. The higher rate of suicide resulted in the increase in the level of unemployment, drugs, gangs and violence among the youth generation. The researchers reflected on the fact that substance abuse and acting out are both related to increase in the suicide risk. The youth generation attempted suicide out of anger and frustration (Baumana, Toomey and Walkerc, 2013). The authors Bonanno and Hymel identified the problems faced by the community are posttraumatic stress symptoms, substance abuse, depression, grief reactions, teen pregnancy and other conditions impacts negatively on the self esteem and emotions of the young mass. The African American youth were engaged in social action through various antiwar protests and civil rights with the intention of increasing employment and educational opportunities for the concerned community. The authors identified in their study that as compared with the other racial groups of the world, African-American males are most likely to commit suicide as compared to the females (Bonanno and Hymel, 2013). The writer Henry, in support of the above researchers, emphasized on various steps or measures adopted by the community for overcoming the problems related to the health issues. This measure mainly includes removing the barrier in providing proper and adequate treatment, removing the obstacle related with the mental health treatment, increasing the awareness of the people towards the cultural differences in expressing the suicidal behaviors, recognizing the warning signals provided to the family members of the community for getting professional help and assistance. The writer focused on the fact that the African American youth are less likely to commit suicide by consuming drugs or alcohol. The main reason behind the suicidal attempt of this concerned community is the rate of increase in depression. Suicide is considered as the third important factor or cause behind the death of the African American youths (Henry, 2014), Researchers Rasica, Kiselya and Langillea emphasized on prevention and early intervention of suicide, the increasing rate off suicide must focus on increasing the options of life for these youths by increasing the education and employment opportunities, improving the on and off job training programs. The problems faced by the youth generation can be overcome by implementing various strategies efficiently and effectively. The early intervention must emphasize on identifying the risk related to social, behavioral and personal characteristics such as their youth belonging from abusive and dysfunctional families, the youth who might be lesbian or gay and those with the histories of self destructive behaviors and psychological problems. These risk encountered by the young generation can be eliminated or reduced by peer counseling, crisis intervention and youth development programs which mainly includes career counseling and mentoring (Rasica, Kiselya and Langillea, 2011). Authors Wonga and Brower, emphasized on the concept of immigration which can be considered as another important factor leading to the rise in the suicide rate among the African American community. The increasing rate of immigration resulted in the increase in competition among the young generation for grabbing the job opportunities. Such type of threats ignites the feeling of disparity, distinction among the community (Wonga and Brower, 2012). Analysis and Findings World Health Organization, several domestic multinational NGOs and health care research firms are involved in continuous studies on this critical area of suicide among the youth throughout the world. According to the their reports and statistics, it is evident that the African American Children generally have the tendency of residing at home as compared to the European American children. Parents play an important role in influencing the culture, behavior and attitude of the children. Several studies also observed that the children of African American community lag behind the students or the children belonging from the Asian American and European American community. Suicide among the youth generation can be explained with the help of theory. There are two key facts that explain the strategic suicide theory is the attempt of suicide by the youth to indicate others that they are unhappy or punishing others for their unhappiness. This theory is mainly designed in such a way that it will prevent the death of the concerned community. Depression theory also explains the reason for their unhappiness. The rational suicide theory explains the relationship between suicide and disappointment. The rate of suicide varies according to the age. Sudden increase in disappointment among the community results in the increase in the suicidal behavior. Suicide rate of the African American is always more in comparison to the youth of the European countries. Increase in violence among the male youth is considered as one of the main factor leading to the increase in suicidal attempt. Individual committing suicide belongs from the age group of 12 -24years which implies that majority of the suicidal behavior is found among the young generation. High consumption of alcohol, teenage pregnancy etc are considered as the cause of suicide but the main intention of committing suicide is the increasing level of disappointment and frustration due to limited employment and educational opportunities and increasing disparity. The teenagers facing high level of tension and anxiety are more prompt to commit suicide in comparison to the adults (Wonga, Brower and Zucke, 2011). Several social and health are organized by many NGOs for enhancing family functioning and economic self sufficiency are required to provide incentive to the young generation who requires employment for supporting their families in case of crisis and distress. The importance of the program can be observed from the fact that without developing and implementing comprehensive set of public policies for addressing the problems associated with social, economic and developmental needs and requirements of the community and other low minority income groups, the rate of suicide will continue to rise significantly among the African American young generation (Spirito, 2003). Figure 1: Suicide rate of youth in U.S. The above diagram represents the suicidal rate of the youth from the period of 2001 to 2010.The commitment of suicide increased subsequently in the recent years. The major causes for increase in suicide rate among the African American community includes the substance use, teenage pregnancy, obesity, sexually transmitted infections and sexual and reproductive health of the community. The substance use mainly includes the consumption of drugs, cigarettes, alcohol. Consumption of alcohol is found more among the young mass as compared to the elderly generation. Despite of using various birth control measures such as an increase in the use of contraceptive, the rate of teen pregnancy among the youth of United States is highest in comparison to the other nations of the world. The rate of teenage pregnancy experienced by United States is twice that of Canada and Sweden. The teenagers of the America are facing the problem of unexpected pregnancy and various infections related to it. The rate of obesity among the young mass increased immensely between 1980 and 2008 within the age group of 12 to 19 years (Ghailla and Haywood, 2012). Figure 2: Rate of suicide committed The above diagram signifies that the suicidal attempt is experienced by the young generation as compared to the elderly people of US. Recommendation The issues influencing the suicidal attempt of African-American youth can be mitigated by adopting various effective and precautionary measures. The rate of migration of the African community in America should be restricted to an extent, since the influx of immigration of the concerned community in the American economy led to the decrease in the job opportunities. The disparity or distinction made on the basis of race and caste is required to be eliminated for promoting equality among the individuals of the country or nation. The consumption of alcohol, drug and cigarettes which is found more among the youths must be prohibited. Various campaigns must be organized for promoting awareness among the youth for reducing the teenage pregnancy and the side effects associated with it. The health and other issues are required to be emphasized for controlling the suicidal attempt. The self esteem emotions of the concerned community must be emphasized. The prevention of suicide effort requires an adequate understanding of the population specific risk factors. The research indicated that only half of the population attempted suicide due to mental disorder. Half of the population dies out of frustration and anger. Therefore, the suicide committed due to psychological factor cannot be eliminated but it can be reduced to an extent. But the suicide attempted due to other reasons or factors must be minimized by adopting various preventive measures. The suicide prevention measures should include screening of the suicidal behaviors in both clinical and non clinical settings such as community centers, schools etc when working with the other teens especially females. Conclusion The above paper focuses on analyzing various factors leading to the increase in the rate of death due to suicidal attempt. It is observed that the rate of suicide is found more among the teenagers or the youth from the African American community as compared to the other countries of the world. It may be the influence from various social, physical or mental factors. From the researchers point of view it can be derived that the main reason behind the cause of suicidal behavior among the young generation is the lack of education and employment opportunities of the individuals. Therefore, many individuals attempted suicide due to frustration and anger. The other main cause of the suicidal death is the disparity made among the individuals in America. Various remedial measures are adopted for decreasing the suicidal behavior among the youth mass. The strategies are designed considering various factors that compelled the concerned community group to commit suicide. References Baumana, S., Toomey, R. B., & Walkerc, J. L. (2013). Associations among bullying, cyber bullying, and suicide in high school students. Journal of Adolescence, 36(2), 341-350. Bonanno, R. A. & Hymel, S. (2013). Cyber bullying and internalizing difficulties: above and beyond the impact of traditional forms of bullying. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42(5), 685-697. Ghailla, M. M. & Haywood, C. (2012). Understanding boys, thinking through boys, masculinity and suicide. Social science & medicine, 74(4), 482-489. Henry, K. L. (2014). The potential role of meaning in life in the relationship between bullying victimization and suicidal ideation. Journal of youth and adolescence, 43(2), 221-232. Rasica, D., Kiselya, S., & Langillea, D. B. (2011). Protective associations of importance of religion and frequency of service attendance with depression risk, suicidal behaviors’ and substance use in adolescents. Journal of Affective Disorders, 132(3), 389-395. Spirito, A. (2003). The relation of mood and behavior to alcohol use in adolescent suicide attempters. Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 12(4), 35-53. Wonga, M. M. & Brower, K. J. (2012). The prospective relationship between sleep problems and suicidal behavior in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 46(7), 953-959. Wonga, M. M., Brower, K. J., & Zucke, R. A. (2011). Sleep problems, suicidal ideation, and self-harm behaviors in adolescence. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 45(4), 505-511. Read More