Research Proposal On Student Suicide

"More people in the general population die from suicide than homicide in North America. There are almost 11 suicide deaths each year for every 100,000 people living in the United States, and for every suicide, there are between 8 and 25 attempts" (Brent 4203). Based on this research, the great effect of suicide is displayed. According to dictionary.com, suicide can be defined as "the intentional taking of one's own life." Suicide is a major issue for all people, but it most obviously affects those ranging from ten to twenty-four. People need to understand the tremendous ramifications caused from suicide everyday; when people take their lives, others lose their loved ones. Suicide, one of the leading causes of death of numerous people each day, has reached a crisis point for adolescents and young adults, and it needs to be prevented.

In American society there are children and adolescents who commit suicide and it has become a major concern. According to the world health organization, suicide is the second or third cause of death among young people in many countries worldwide among those 10 to 14 years old and the second leading cause of death among 15 to 24 years old, stated from CDC/NCHS in 2011. Suicide must be prevented. There are three articles that show us the study of how school programs and connectedness can prevent suicide from occurring. Article one called “Connectedness and Suicide prevention in Adolescents: Pathways and Implication” by the Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior from the American Association of Suicidology. Article two “Preventing Child Suicide: The Elementary School Death Education Puppet Show” by G.R. Bernhardt and Susan G. Praeger. Article three “Suicide prevention in adolescents: a controlled study of the effectiveness of a school-based psycho-educational program” by Gwendolyn Portzky and Kees Heeringen.

In addition teachers and others should have a conversation with their students or children about how they’re feeling. They should do their best to make their children feel happy with themselves and more comfortable talking about their problems. These mature individuals should show the young teens or adults that the world is not as bad as it seems that the world is a beautiful place where one can overcome anything. In the article, “Developing a Comprehensive School Suicide Prevention Program” Keith A. King

The rate of suicide, the act or an instance of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally, increases each year. “More adolescents die each year from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease, combined” (Preventing Teen Suicide, 2016, p.2). These facts show suicide is a serious problem among teens. Last year, teen suicide became the second leading cause of death in the United States confirming the significant increase in teen suicides.

This evaluation critique is focused on the article: “An Outcome Evaluation of the SOS Suicide Prevention Program,” by Robert H. Aseltine Jr, and Robert DeMartino. Based on their evaluation, the authors (2004) conclude that the SOS program was successful as “significantly lower rates of suicide attempts and greater knowledge and more adaptive attitudes about depression and suicide were observed among students in the intervention group” (p. 446).

Schools are a cost-effective way to reach youth, yet there is no conclusive evidence regarding the most effective prevention strategy. We conducted a systematic review of the empirical literature on school-based suicide prevention programs. Signs of Suicide and the Good Behavior Game were the only programs found to reduce suicide attempts. There are few evidence-based, school-based suicide prevention programs, a combination of which may be effective. It would be useful to evaluate the effectiveness of general mental health promotion programs on the outcome of suicide (Katz et al.,

In this article, the author provides a description of various institutional changes, ranging from policy changes to information dissemination, that is designed to prevent suicide on college campuses in the United States. The purpose of this article is not to offer an extensive review of campus-wide suicide prevention measures. Rather it is to outline recent information on campus suicides in the United States and to highlight reports from professional and mainstream sources, including monthly publications and websites, concerning institutional changes arising from and designed to decrease campus

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (2016). A model school policy on suicide prevention: Model language, commentary, and resources. Retrieved from:

In 2004 Congress enacted the Campus Suicide Prevention initiative which provides funds through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Mental Health Services, to college campuses nationwide (Smulson, 2016). The Campus Suicide Prevention initiative supports program activities, mental health screening services, and prevention strategies to form a foundation for mental health promotion, suicide prevention, and substance abuse prevention (Smulson, 2016). While research shows that mental and behavioral health supports can improve student life and functioning, the program falls short in some areas.

Maine needs a better proactive prevention program for suicide. Maine’s suicide rate among all ages is unreasonably high. It is especially disconcerting to have a high rate among young adults. According to the Maine Suicide Prevention Program, one suicide happens every two days or 180 suicides year in Maine. It is the tenth leading cause of death among all age bracket in Maine. It is the second leading cause of death for ages 15 to 24; and the fourth leading cause in ages 10 to 14. (“Maine Suicide Prevention Program”) There are programs in place to help. They do not seem to be enough.

The structure of our program is to work with school sites in order to train a core group of students on how to identify the risk factors and warning signs of suicide. The goal is for the students to ultimately be a link to a trusted adult or resource on campus for a student who may be contemplating suicide. Once students are trained we work with them to create schoolwide campaigns which focus on raising awareness to help resources that are always available when needed.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 2015, suicide is the second leading cause of death in the adolescent population in this country and the number of occurrences continues to rise at a dramatic rate. For every teen that completes a suicide, 100 make an attempt, making suicide a paramount public health issue that needs to be addressed. Statistics show that since 2009, the rates of attempted and completed suicide, in this age group continue to steadily increase (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2015; Taliaferro, Oberstar, & Wagman-Borowsky, 2012).

Day to day, teens suffer from peer pressure, problem from home, and stress from academics. Despise their status in the environment, majority of high school students refrain from acknowledging the presence of their reality. The problem in most situations in that students feel shut in, trapped in a never ending misery. How do they cope? What are their ways of dealing? Most students live in denial. Others have friends to confide in. For the devastating part, most students are not as open to these ideas and it leaves them with this alternative: suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause in teens the ages 14 to 19 within rural underserved areas. Suicidal ideation (SI), suicidal thoughts, were surveyed in over 12 high schools and it was found that in the past year, thoughts of (SI) were not shared with peers or even adults in the pursuit of receiving help or support (Pisani, 2012). Because a student spends most of their day at school, it is ideal for schools to provide realistic opportunities and school-based programs to assist with the suicide among the youth. The Surviving the Teens Suicide Prevention and Depression Awareness Program designed four 50 minute session or each high school student. This presented information in regards to factual information about depression, suicidal warning signs, suicidal risk factors and myths associated with suicide (King, 2010). The program provide coping strategies for everyday life, referral sources if feeling suicidal, and how to recognize

Teen suicide is something that is endless, it will never stop but if everyone was educated on it, it could help prevent deaths. I think with people provided with statistics and further information can help avoid adolescent suicide attempts. I think most teen suicide cases could be prevent if we knew the signs to look for and the ways to stop it. I believe parents would feel safer if they knew knowledge on the issue and how to handle it. The intended audiences for this essay is parents or friends of suicidal teens. This essay is important because, as mentioned earlier, we need to be educated on suicide to end tons of tragedies. It is also important to be aware of the warning signs to help prevent. This essay is relevant because teen suicide is a war that happens daily, and will continue to happen, until we take control of the situation and do something to stop it. If family members were informed of the cause and symptoms leading up to the attempt of suicide, then there is less likely that teenagers would try and commit

Suicide is a major problem worldwide; especially for teenagers. Self image plays a big roll in American society today, especially in enabling someone to make a wrong and destructive decision like suicide. Self image and low esteem effect the chances of a teenagers suicide greatly. There are many events that lead up to a young persons suicide, for instance a little problem that seems inescapable which manifests themselves into overwhelming burdens. Detection and prevention are both key for adults and young people to stop suicide from happening.