Blog Post #2 (YATW)

     Hello everyone! This is my second blog post for; You And The World. As you may know my issue is teen suicide due to bullying. In my first blog post, I informed you everything you need to know about teen suicide due to bullying. For those of you who didn’t view it, you can view my first blog post here. Ever since my last post I’ve found new research that relates to teen suicide. I also decided to do my own research by creating a survey with various questions for teens. 

    I decided to explore more about teen suicide, that isn’t due to bullying. According the Wexner Medical Center, suicide risk factors vary with age, gender, and cultural and social influences and may change over time. Risk factors for suicide frequently occur in combination with each other. The following are some suicide risk factors that may be present:

• one or more diagnosable mental or substance abuse disorders
• impulsive behaviors
• undesirable life events or recent losses (parental divorce)
• family history of mental or substance abuse disorder
• family history of suicide
• family violence, including physical, sexual, or verbal/ emotional abuse
• prior suicide attempt
• firearm in the home
• incarceration or the detention of a person in prison
• exposure to the suicidal behavior of others, including family, peers, in the news, or in fiction stories. 

    Research after research, I’ve became more curious. I wanted to find out about teen suicides before the year 2,000. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (nami), here are some of the few facts I found:

• In 1996, more teenagers and young adults died of suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia and influenza, and chronic lung disease combined.
• In 1996, suicide was the second-leading cause of death among college students, the third-leading cause of death among those aged 15 to 24 years, and the fourth- leading cause of death among those aged 10 to 14 years.
• From 1980 to 1996, the rate of suicide among African-American males aged 15 to 19 years increased by 105 percent.

     It is a hopeful sign that while the incidence of suicide among adolescents and young adults nearly tripled from 1965 to 1987, teen suicide rates in the past ten years have actually been declining, possibly due to increased recognition and treatment. 

       Taking research into my own hands, I’ve created a survey called “Teen Suicide.” This survey was answered by 59 teens. According to the survey 48 people out of 59 didn’t know anyone who died from committing suicide and didn’t help to prevent it. Which was awesome! In the other hand, 42 people out of 59 are unaware of the frequency of teen suicide in the United States. Also, 46 people out of 59 said that they were once bullied in their life. It’s unbelievable! Fortunately when asked “ What do you do when you see a person getting bullied? “ 38 people out of 59 answered, “ Tell an adult.” Seventeen people out of 59 answered “ Watch, and keep it to yourself." Only 12 people answered “ Participate in the action.” 

        Some of the responses on this survey affected me. They were quite confusing. For example, I couldn’t believe that amount of people who took the survey were bullied. It was more than half! I didn’t expect this. Also, I thought it was very surprising that some  people would actually answer “ Participate it the action “ when asked, “ What do you do when you see a person get bullied? “ That was quite unexpected. 

    Next time, I would be writing the last and final blog post. Action will be taken. I’m planning to do volunteer work for my agent of change. 

Click here for the story of one the most popular, but saddest teen suicides due to bullying, Amanda Todd.                               

Click here for my bibliography. :)