Personality Commonalities among Adolescent Suicide - Literature review Example

Running head: ADOLESCENT SUICIDE Personality Commonalities Among Adolescent Suicide Pamela Barney College SY3010- ABSTRACT Adolescent Suicide has been an increasing health problem throughout the world. In many countries, suicide rates have been gradually increasing. Since the 1950s, adolescent suicide has tripled. Multiple factors seem to be related to self-harm in adolescents. It is hypothesized that there are certain personality characteristics in adolescents that are contributing factors when the adolescents attempt to self-harm or commit suicide. This document is a description of three research studies attempt to illustrate and support this hypothesis. In a research article written by Fleischmann, Bertolote, Belfer & Beautrais, 2005 they reexamined past research that showed the presence and distribution of mental disorders in cases of completed suicide among young people worldwide. A second research study was investigated that performed longitudinal studies to see if traits in adolescents and adults were similar to one another pertaining to suicidal behavior. The research was completed in a five-year span. In the research study performed by Goldston, A third research study by Douglas, Belfrage, Edens, Herbozo & Poythres (2006) was completed to investigate if specific behavioral aspects of psychopath, such as interpersonal-affective, manipulative ness and lack of remorse, are related to suicidal behavior. This document describes the three searches mentioned above and how they support this hypothesis. Personality Commonalities Among Adolescent Suicide Adolescent Suicide has been an increasing health problem throughout the world. In many countries, suicide rates have been gradually increasing. Since the 1950s, adolescent suicide has tripled. Multiple factors seem to be related to self-harm in adolescents. Some examples include depression, hopelessness, psychological pain, aggression, and anxiety. In this paper, the task of finding common personality traits is investigated. It is hypothesized that there are certain personality characteristics in adolescents that are contributing factors when the adolescents attempt to self-harm or commit suicide. The following three research studies attempt to illustrate and support this hypothesis. In a research article written by Fleischmann, Bertolote, Belfer & Beautrais, 2005 they reexamined past research that showed the presence and distribution of mental disorders in cases of completed suicide among young people worldwide. The authors studied information received from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, from 1982 to 2001. The authors reviewed 894 cases and found that 88.6% of the subjects had a diagnosis of at least one mental disorder. They also found that mood disorders were the most frequent at 42.1%, followed by substance-abuse disorders were 40.8%, disruptive behavior disorders were 20.8% and personality disorders were 20.8%. Mood disorders was defined as major depressive disorder, minor depressive disorder, dysthymia, mania, hypomania, bipolar disorder, and mood disorders not otherwise specified. (Fleischmann et al. 2005) The findings are important as they show certain traits to be a direct correlation with completed suicide. The study shows that overall; suicide would be greatly reduced if mood disorders were eliminated. A limitation with this research is that there is a small amount of participants. The authors noted that most of the information regarding successful suicides was that from Europe. The authors noted studies could not be used from Africa, Asia, or South America, as they could not determine the criteria that were used to support those studies. Therefore, the authors warned readers should use caution in application for their findings in Asian and developing countries. A second research study was investigated when performed longitudinal studies to see if traits in adolescents and adults were similar to one another pertaining to suicidal behavior. The research was completed in a five-year span. In the research study performed by Goldston, Reboussin & Daniel (2006), they interviewed 180 adolescents and administered a self-report questionnaire. They divided the categories from short-lived durations to long-term variance. The authors found that between 23% and 30% of the variance in the predictors was imputable to the adolescents' trait levels. Specifically, they found that anxiety was the dominating factor towards suicide attempts. (Goldston, Reboussin & Daniel, 2006) Although this study was longitudinal research, it did have two interesting limitations. First, there were some noted participants who failed to complete the research. The consequence of participants quitting prematurely may have lasting effects on the final results. The authors looked into this problem area; however, didn't find the numbers had changed to a degree where the results would have changed. Secondly, the authors had to round their observations to the six-month interval to obtain model convergence. They explained if they had used actual interview dates they would have made it necessary to perform one-month assessments. In reviewing the initial study by Flamenbaum & Holden (2007) and the second study done by Goldston et al.(2006), both have similar findings. Both participating groups had similar personality traits such as anxiety, hopelessness and fear that contributed to the suicide attempt. A third research study by Douglas, Belfrage, Edens, Herbozo & Poythres (2006) was completed to investigate if specific behavioral aspects of psychopath, such as interpersonal-affective, manipulative ness and lack of remorse, are related to suicidal behavior. The authors hypothesized the research should have shown that the interpersonal aspects are not related to suicidal behavior; however, the behavioral and lifestyle features are related to suicidal behavior. This study consisted of eleven different samples all being male participants. All participants were one or more of the following categories: young adult male offenders, adolescent male offenders, psychiatric patients, and male prison inmates. Information was gathered for this study by means of personal interviews. The authors found the grand mean correlation between behavioral features of psychopath and suicidal was .15. (Douglas et al. 2006) Interpersonal features of psychopath were unrelated to suicidal after controlling for behavioral features, which remained significantly related to suicidal in partial correlation examination. The current findings have theoretical importance with respect to the construct of psychopath itself. The lack of a relationship between interpersonal features of psychopath and suicidal behavior makes sense. Persons who lack emotional dept most likely do not have a capacity to feel the emotional pain that drives some forms of suicidal behavior. In other words, people who lack emotional depth would not have the fear, anxiety and hopelessness that is described in previous two studies. It should be noted this study also had some limitations. First, the self reporting method might have had a greater degree of variance associated with other personality features that are related to suicidal. It's also possible that sense most of the participants were incarcerated at one point, might have been in an increased mental state, given the circumstances. Another limitation that was noted was the understanding in the definitions of terminology used. Furthermore, it is hard to evaluate the dialogue between the participant and the interviewer. Regardless of the limitations, the information provided indicates a person needs to experience and have traits that are in relation to depression, such as anxiety, fear, perfectionism and hopelessness. Some studies found that other primary factors contribute to suicidal ideation. For example, a study was completed by Browski, Ireland, and Resnick (2001) where they researched risk factors for adolescents in different cultures. They used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which was conducted in 1995 and 1996. A national sample of 13,110 students completed in-home interviews. The authors found that suicide attempts were most prevalent for white girls and least prevalent for black and white boys. The authors noted several different factors for attempting suicide. These factors include violence victimization, violence perpetration, alcohol use, marijuana us, and school problems. (Borowsky et al. 2001) The researchers also found there were several factors, which significantly decreased the odds of attempting suicide. These factors included parent and family connectedness, emotional well-being and high grade point average. They went on to explain that parental expectations for their child's school achievement and religiosity were protective factors for boy. The limitations to this study pertained to having a small number of participants for the research. It was also found the lack of a longer interval between the interviews with participants and the small ethnic and gender sizes reduced the statistical power to detect factors associated with suicide attempts. This study clearly indicates factors for attempting suicide differ from the previous mentioned studies. This study doesn't mention the adolescent's mental state as indicators for suicide risk. Another study was completed by Lau, Jernewall, Zane & Myers (2002), where they performed medical record abstraction for ethnic-specific mental health outpatient clinic. They wanted to identify commonalities of suicidal behavior. Their sample consisted of 284 Asian American youths. The results showed the majority of youths and Asian American youths do share some personality factors of suicidal. The study indicated that Asian American youths have a 30-fold increase in risk for suicidal behaviors when they experience family conflict. The authors went on to say the stress of parent-child conflict is proportionality more powerful in the prediction of suicidal among less acculturated Asian American youths. Limitations with this study are consistent with the previous studies in that there was a small sample of Asian American participants. Future research should focus on multiple different ethnic groups. Also, it was noted the participants came from one clinic, which is in one geographical area. Future research should have more than one geographical area. Furthermore, this study was based on archival records and data extraction. The researchers were removed from the initial interviewing process and might have different interpretations, thus have different findings. However, even with the pertinent mentioned limitations, it's worthwhile to note there results. This study had similar findings as the study from Borowsky, et al. 2001, in that both found intergenerational conflict to be a significant determination factors for suicidal ideation. In summary, the information gathered indicated there are certain personality traits and risk factors, which are obvious signs of suicidal ideation. The research performed by Fleischmann et al. (2005), Goldston et al. 2006 and Douglas et al. 2006, show the common traits of people who have attempted suicide to be depressed, have a sense hopelessness and anxiety. On the other hand, research completed by Borowsky et al. 2001 and Lau et al. 2002, indicates family conflict to be the significant factor in suicidal ideation. It can be assumed from these five reviews that there are common personality traits and other significant factors that play a role in an adolescent who decides to kill him or her. More longitudinal research should be done involving different ethnic groups that have different cultural backgrounds. People outside the western culture may need different types of therapy to address specific cultural issues. Additionally, systems should be implemented in schools and adults should be taught the different suicidal traits that are present in hopes of deterring suicide. Parents should be taught to communicate with their children to promote connectives. Finally, a modification in risk factors that show continued persistence would be beneficial to the healthcare professionals to determine long-term strategy in the prevention of suicide. Citation: Borowsky, W. P., Ireland, M. P., & Resnnick, M. P. (2001, June 20). Adolescent suicide attempts: Risks and protectors. Pediatrics, 107, 485-491. Douglas, K. S., Belfrage, H., Edens, J. F., Herbozo, S., & Poythres, N. G. (2006). Psychopathy and suicide: A multisample investigation. American Psychological Association, Psychological Services, 3(2), 97-116. Doweiko, H. E. (2006). Concepts of chemical dependency (L. Gebo, Ed.) (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole. Flamenbaum, R., & Holden, R. R. (2007). Psychache as a mediator in the relationship between perfectionsim and suicidality. Journal of Counseling Psychology (Ontario, Canada), 54(1), 51-61. Fleischmann, A. P., Bertolote, J. M., Belfer, M. M., & Beautrais, A. P. (2005). Completed suicide and psychiatric diagnoses in young people: A critical examination of the evidence. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 75(4), 676-683. Goldston, D. B., Reboussin, B. A., & Daniel, S. (2006). Predictors of suicide attempts: State and trait components. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, American Psychological Association, 115(4), 842-849. Lau, A. S., Jernewall, N. M., Zane, N., & Myers, H. F. (2002). Correlates of suicidal behaviors among Asian American outpatient youths. Culture Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology (Educational Publishing Foundation), 8(3), 199-213. Read More