Suicide Among Gifted Students

I. Attention Material/Clincher: “Suicide is the second leading cause of death in college students” According to the non-profit organizations suicide.org (suicide.org 2017). Suicide has always been a mind- blowing problem nation wide. But if we look around and see our fellow classmates we think nothing of it until it happens. We ask ourselves why would the straight “A” student or the popular students want to kill or harm themselves.

In the United States, suicide is the third-leading cause of death for 10 to 14-year-olds (CDC, 2015) and for 15 to 19-year-olds (Friedman, 2008). In 2013, 17.0% of students grades 9 to 12 in the United States seriously thought about committing suicide; 13.6% made a suicide plan; 8.0% attempted suicide; and 2.7% attempted suicide in which required medical attention (CDC, 2015). These alarming statistics show that there is something wrong with the way suicide is handled in today’s society. In order to alleviate the devastating consequences of teenage suicide, it is important to get at the root of what causes it all: mental illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (2013), mental illness is the imbalance of thinking, state of mind, and mood. Approximately 90% of all suicides are committed by people with mental illnesses (NAMI, n.d.). This shows that there is a correlation between mental illness and suicide. If mental illnesses are not treated, deadly consequences could occur. It would make sense that if there is a correlation between mental illness and suicide across all ages, the same should be thought for adolescents. Approximately 21% of all teenagers have a treatable mental illness (Friedman, 2008), although 60% do not receive the help that they need (Horowitz, Ballard, & Pao, 2009). If mental illnesses are not found and treated in teenagers, some of them may pay the ultimate price.

At times, being labeled as a gifted student can be a burden for the student with that label. The Association for Middle Level Educators found, “research indicates that many gifted students deliberately fail tests or fail to do homework so that they don’t appear to be too smart” (Payne, 2013, p. 15). The need for acceptance at this point in students’ lives outdoes the will to achieve higher than their classmates. It is common in a middle school classroom to see students choosing to have friends over excelling academically (Payne, 2013).

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.

It has been seen that gifted children have different coping mechanisms, as they are likely to face different problems than their peers. This usually means them being overlooked by staff as they are not seen to need the same assistance as other students. It is often found that gifted girls may learn to hide their abilities in order to blend in with other children whereas gifted boys are usually considered immature and are unable to socialise with children their own age. These children usually have different learning methods therefore teaching staff may find it hard to work with their needs. This may lead the child to feel bored in class when the work is not differentiated to their

programs, the gifted child learns how to overcome adversity, a life-skill that benefits the gifted

Van Tassel-Baska, J. (2000). Theory and research on curriculum development for the gifted. In K.A. Heller, F.J. Monks, R. J. Sternberg & R.F. Subotnik (Eds.). International handbook of giftedness and talent (2nd ed., pp. 365–386). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

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”).

Understanding the psychological factors that may drive students to suicide is thus an important scientific quest. The present research aims to examine the relation between failure to attain high standards of performance, and implicit thoughts of suicide and death.

Inner city students need just as much positive input as they get negative input, because they are sometimes forced to indulge in negative activities to maintain internal stability. The gifted program in this novel depicts how a support system can assist less fortunate youth in overcoming adversity.

Gifted students should be provided advanced opportunities to be challenged, to experience both success and growth, to develop higher level study, creativity, and productivity. To develop their interests and talents their individual characteristics, needs, learning rates, motivations for learning, cognitive abilities, and interests must be taken into account. Differentiation can be included in the curriculum by incorporating acceleration, complexity, depth, challenge, and creativity. Students can also be given fewer tasks to master a standard, use multiple resources and higher-level skills, conduct research, develop products, make cross-disciplinary

Suicide is a devastating, preventable tragedy and is among the top causes of death in the adolescent population. Compelling statistics given since 2009 show the number of

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

Gifted children are believed to be a risk factor for depression and suicide. However, higher rates or lower rates of depression have not been proven. There are a few misconceptions about depression in gifted children. Two common misconceptions are the rate of depression that occurs in gifted students is less than nongifted students and suicide rates in gifted students are less than nongifted students.