Why Do People Commit Suicide And How Is It A Social Problem? Essay

Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death. At least 44,193 people by suicide every year. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has given more than $4 million in grants toward research for suicide prevention. It has reached more

"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.

Suicide is the intentional taking of one's own life and sociologists over the years have tried to put forward various explanations for why someone may do this. Within sociology there are many different views on suicide on the causes and explanations for it, these come from two main methodologies which are Positivists who believe that sociology is a science and they should aim to make causal laws on suicide rates, compared to Interpretivists who believe that they should look for meaning behind occurrences and certain individuals experiences before the suicide. Other perspectives also put in their views on what they believe to

Suicide is the intentional taking of one's own life and sociologists over the years have tried to put forward various explanations for why someone may do this. Within sociology there are many different views on suicide on the causes and explanations for it, these come from two main methodologies which are Positivists who believe that sociology is a science and they should aim to make causal laws on suicide rates, compared to Interpretivists who believe that they should look for meaning behind occurrences and certain individuals experiences before the suicide. Other perspectives also put in their views on what they believe to explain

The first sociologist to theorize on suicide and its sociological interpretations was Emile Durkheim. Durkheim worked during the late 1800’s identifying social structures as the key determinant in self-destructive behaviour. In his work Suicide: A study in Sociology, Durkheim stated that “suicide rates increase when a society’s value system breaks down.”2 Durkheim believed that the shared values of a society and the mechanisms in place that ensure that its members adhere to these values, is interpreted as a person’s “social structure.” Durkheim suggested two basic factors in social structure that heavily influence the incidence of suicide. These are regulation and integration. He believed that an individual needs to become part of, and find direction in his own society. Without these factors in place, suicide becomes a common substitute. Teens are often anxious about fitting in to their society (especially among peer groups) so it is clear that integration is essential to adolescence. Durkheim also suggested that it is these two factors

Attention Getter: Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S. surpassed by accidents and homicide. (According to Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention)

Durkheim does not see egoism, altruism, anomie and fatalism as types of suicide, but types of social structure that highlight the presence or lack of integration and regulation. It must be stressed that this excess/lack of integration and regulation are not seen as direct causes of suicide, rather Durkheim sees a number of voluntary deaths in society as inevitable; integration and regulation are merely prophylactic to suicidal impulses, which when taken to excess or dramatically reduced, fail to act as a preventative, and so suicides occur. This clarification is an important strength of Durkheim’s theory: it allows the biography of the individuals who kill themselves to vary, while still explaining underlying pressures/lack of to explain their deaths, and the varying suicide rates between groups.

Suicide has been a leading cause of death in the United States of America since 2009. It is the tenth leading cause of death and has increased since 2008 by .9%. Additionally, suicide is in the top 15 of leading deaths in 2009. Heart disease and diabetes which are also top leading deaths have decreased from 2008-2009. The only cause of death to have increased from 2008-2009 in the US is suicide.

Suicide is the deliberate and conscious act of taking one’s own life. This article and the textbook explore possible motives behind suicide and how those motives vary from country to country. Suicide takes place in all countries and cultures throughout the world. Durkheim was a leading researcher of suicide who proposed theories that are presented in both the article and the textbook relating suicide to a person’s attachment to family, religion, and community (Comer, 2014). Suicide has variations within a culture based on a people’s varying age, sex, or even socioeconomic status. The motives behind a suicide can vary from culture to culture. In Sweden, occupational stress or poor academic performance may trigger suicidal behavior; in Denmark, relationships are highly valued and the loss of a significant relationship may initiate a suicide attempt; and in Japan, independence is highly valued so much that if a person feels as if he or she is a burden to others, they may commit suicide (Lester, 2011). The meaning behind the suicide is often based on the survivor’s viewpoint. They may view the act as a result of intrapersonal, interpersonal, or societal stress. Many Western cultures may place an emphasis on the genetic factors that led to a suicide.

The suicide rate has increased to 12.6 deaths per 100,000 Americans from 10.7 in 2000.Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States in the early 2000s and has changed to the third leading cause since 2014. There are many reasons why people attempt to commit suicide, which any of them are good. Reasons, why people attempt or commit suicide is either because of a loss or tragic event but one of the main that has shown to lead suicide is depression. And if mental illness in kids increases so does suicide. Each year around 43,000 American dies from suicide and for every suicide 25 attempts. Suicide is more common in the news and media nowadays with more suicide attempts reported. Suicide has increased in America since the economy

There is one death by suicide in the United States every 13 minutes. Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States and depression affects 25% of our population.

This week I decided to read the article titled, “Sociology of Suicide” (Lester & Gunn, 2016). In this article, the authors discussed the social aspects surrounding suicide, and discuss three different theories. In Durkheim’s theory, they discuss two different characteristics responsible for social suicide, social integration and social regulation. Social integration is when the member of society is bound within their social networks, and social regulation is where desires and behaviors are restricted by social norms and customs. In this theory, it mentions that the higher the level of social regulations, therefore the more fatalistic the suicide. When assessing this factor, I happen to agree that social norms and custom in a society tends to play a factor in completed suicides.

One major problem that our world undergoes is suicide. Suicide is a major problem that is a cultural and societal problem. This is a cultural problem because the majority of religions say that committing suicide is a sin. This will then affect the cultural aspect of their religion because they have committed a sin. This then leads to the second problem of societal. This will cause great grief to family and friends, which can cause depression. Some facts that prove that suicide is a major topic is that in “2009, there were 3,890 suicides in Canada and the suicide rate for males was three times higher than the rate for females (Tanya Navaneelan).” This shows that suicide is a serious problem in this world that need a solution.

While there are many theories of why people commit suicide, the theoretical framework I will attempt to use to shape this research is The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide. Joiner did mention that many theories were lacking a key component, but he did not totally dismiss these theories he added them to the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide. The Interpersonal Theory of suicide states “one could feel a perceived burdensomeness combined with failed belongingness constitutes to psychache” (Joiner, 2005, pg. 37). However, Joiner (2005) adds that psychache and social integration can produce suicide ideation, but alone is not enough to explain the difference of why some people live with the pain and others commit suicide. Joiner (2005) states the

“I want to understand suicide more in a sociological perspective. I’ve only looked at suicide as more of an individual problem and never accounted that there’s something bigger. The social factor is a variable that we have to consider when we are looking at preventing suicide. Even, if we can pinpoint a source of the cause, we could consider outside factors that can threaten individuals or groups of people’s mental well-being.” (Kiser, 2016)