Factors that Leads Teens to Commit Suicide

Adolescence is popularly known to be a very tumultuous stage in a person’s life. In the adolescent stage (also coined the identity vs. role confusion stage by theorist Erik Erikson) bodies are changing rapidly, emotions are unfamiliar and unexplainable, and refraining from succumbing to peer pressure is more challenging than ever.

In this essay, Erikson Identity Crisis theory and Marcia’s four stages of Identity Statuses demonstrates how adolescences analyze and make decisions about one’s identity. Many adolescences struggle with decisions about where they fit in. Also, in this essay I will explain how you know you are LGBTQIA and I will discuss why so many adolescence of LGBTQIA have a hard time fitting in with society. The intent of this essay is to discuss the problems of LGBTQIA adolescences and why the impact of LGBTQIA is mainly in adolescent ages and the discrimination based on sexual orientation & gender identity.

Suicide rates have increased in teens over the past few years. Along with suicide rates increasing, mental health of teens in general has been a widely discussed topic. A huge contributor to these issues is social media. Over the past couple of years, teens have been diagnosed with mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression at a much higher rate. These issues are prevalent for teens all over the world. The increase in diagnosis of disorders is largely due to the rise in popularity of many social media platforms.

Social media has become an issue as it has given a platform for cyber self-harm. The online world has given teens an expressive outlet for their pain, and due to social media, they now have an audience. Having an audience may then cause adolescents to not only continue to self-harm if they have already started but to also start self-harming. Social media has become a large part of teen’s lives; it has caused some adolescents to feel like they must ‘be seen’. With the need to be seen and keeping up with friends due to the 24/7 nature of technology means that young people are unable to escape and switch off. This can cause teens to feel trapped and may add to the daily misery they are feeling.

Causes of suicide vary but as technology advances new causes are apparent. Social media plays a major role in causes of suicide. Technology allows cyber bullying to happen frequently and recur until something or someone stops it. Victims of bullying often think they have no way out of their situation or feel like there is no help. People with suicidal thoughts struggle either mentally, physically, or emotionally. “Three million children are absent from school each month due to bullying. Twenty percent of those bullied kids have suicidal thoughts” (Bullying and Suicide, 2016, p.1). Media’s such as snapchat, instagram, twitter, or facebook all provide factual information about previous cases of suicide. Cyberbullying is a serious problem especially among adolescent girls. Girls are more likely than boys to attempt suicide due to cyberbullying, because girls are struggling to find themselves as a person (Bichell, 2013, p. 3). Any form of negativity or put down affects them, and who they are trying to become.

First, a study shows that one out of four students knows of a peer who has committed suicide by age seventeen (“Teen Suicide: Prevention Is Contagious, Too”). Also, a survey from the CDC National Risk Behavior said that 16% of American high schoolers admit that they have considered suicide in the last year (“Teen Suicide: Prevention Is Contagious, Too”). Next, suicide rates have tripled in the last thirty-five years (“Teen Suicide: A Preventable Tragedy”). Self-harm is also the largest cause of death in those ages fifteen-nineteen ( “Sad Teenage Girls are Becoming More So”). Some believe that teenage suicide rates have increased because more teens are using drugs and alcohol (“Teen Suicide: Prevention Is Contagious, Too”).

Kutner, Max. "Teen Suicide Is Contagious, and the Problem May Be Worse Than We Thought;

 Detail 2: How the Internet/Social Media Has Had an Impact on Suicide in Young Adults

Suicide is a permanent solution more often than not to a temporary problem, and sadly over the past ten years the number of teen suicides has risen. How much of a factor is new technology in this rise is hotly debated by parents and psychologist the world over. “The debate is not about how technological advancements like smart phones and high-speed internet and their availability to young people have changed the very fiber of how young people socialize as compared to even five years ago, but in how much it (technology) truly plays in teen suicides.”(Dr. Kashyap MD). Most young people have a cell phone and most have texting; many even have access to the

The LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community has faces certain challenges within the heterosexual community, from homeless and ways in approaching accepting their sexuality without landing on the streets. The LGBT face a big discrimination and are if most certainly sometimes if not always dismissed by family, with such rejection many teens are kicked off to the curb and many times face mental and physical stains, which they often struggle with alone. (teens from

In the article The Antisocial Network Jack Dickey discusses social networking and explores the influence social media has teen suicide.

Suicide is reaching epidemic proportions all across the globe. What is causing such an outbreak in young adults? Most people have heard about the get help hotlines and the advertisements associated with suicide. Although we 've all heard about it, not much is being done about it. Johnson states the facts about suicide, “claiming 39,518 lives in 2011, or more than 6,889 more than in 2005” (10). This small piece of information goes to show just how much suicide has increased in the last few years. Besides being the number 10 cause of death among all ages in the U.S., it is the 2nd leading killer of adolescents, or “people between ages 15 and 19” (Peacock 1). Also, the number of completed suicides only touches the surface on the dilemma it truly is; this is because there are 25 suicide attempts per every suicide (731). What goes unnoticed is that suicide is on the rise for a number of reasons including mental illness, bullying, social media, and high expectation perfectionist teens.

Suicide is the leading cause of death among the nation. The numbers are rapidly increasing each year and social media plays a major key role in it. Social media has become a place where people mainly teenagers say their final words by posting a suicide note or even stream it live. It has made social media a negative place for people of all ages. Bullying and cyberbullying also play a major role in children, teenages, and young adults lives when they decide to take their own. Besides bullying, addiction, depression, anxiety, and mental health are another key role in suicide.

Suicide and accidental death from self-harm were the third leading cause of mortality in adolescents aged 10- 19 years of age in 2015, resulting in 67,000 deaths (world health organization). Many cases have have been reported in the local news, online, and through use of social media websites such as: Facebook and snap chat. There have also been multiple cases of youths that have posted their suicide live online. This is clearly a cry for help, if only someone was there to provide some form of assistance, could these cases have been prevented? This is a very important crisis that affect families, communities, and health care professionals worldwide and therefore deserves to be further discussed.

From "thintastic" blogs to suicide stories, social media has become not only a source of conversation but a gateway to harmful suggestions that many teenagers see and believe to be allowable, when in fact the situations proposed are dangerous to those who attempt them. Statistics show that 20% of anorexic teenagers will die prematurely, and 80% of teenagers who commit suicide are depressed (South). Social media has glorified and brought to attention eating disorders, depression, and suicide among teens that might otherwise not become a statistic in these critical categories.