final research proposal

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Destani Lewis

Final Research Proposal

Summary

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Suicide is an intentional decision by a person to take their life. According to

psychologists, suicide ideation is a reactive response to psychiatric emergencies and stressors. It

is one of the leading health problems that affect the United States and other developed countries.

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Research Proposal: Suicide in Adolescents and Youth

Destani Lewis

PSY-495

June 10, 2022

Professor Katz

Research Proposal: Suicide in Adolescents and Youth

Introduction

In Western nations, suicide was considered a criminal act before the 19 th century (Tomasi et al

2019). At present, suicide is one of the major health concerns globally. It is the third leading

cause of death among adolescents and youth aged between 15 and 24 in the U.S.A. The problem

accounts for approximately 1.4 percent of all deaths globally. Many suicides stem from

psychological disorders, with depression, alcohol and substance abuse disorders, and psychosis

forming part of the most dominant risk factors (Bradvik, 2018). Nonetheless, other mental

diseases such as anxiety, personality traits, eating habits, and posttraumatic stress disorders also

form a significant component of suicide-related deaths (Brådvik, 2018). The following paper

seeks to investigate how toxic socialization, peer pressure, and drug abuse contribute to suicide

ideation. The research also seeks to evaluate whether psychosocial counseling can help in

reducing suicidal thoughts among adolescents and youth. It will also highlight some of the

limitations of this study.

Problem statement

The problem of concern is suicide among adolescents. Studies indicate that adolescents

are disproportionately at high risk of committing suicide than children and adults. Adolescents

have low emotional quotient than adults. According to Apter (2020), adolescents are vulnerable

to suicide due to the sensitivity and vulnerability of the stage. During adolescence, most teens

engage in weird activities such as substance use and drug abuse. Studies have established that

individuals under the influence of drugs and substances are more likely to experience psychosis

than those who are not under the influence of any substance. Drug and substance abuse increase

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feelings of hallucination, thus exacerbating the ideation of suicide among adolescents more than

adults or children. Besides, adolescents are prone to peer pressure, thus making them more

vulnerable to engagement in vices like drug abuse to comply with the group norms, leading to

increased vulnerability to traumatic experiences. Additionally, studies indicate that adolescents

are prone to toxic socialization, which disproportionately exposes them to physical and

emotional abuse (Bridley & Daffin, 2020). For instance, adolescents are prone to sexual assault

and exploitation by sex predators. Such conditions expose adolescents to feelings of

disillusionment, depression, and trauma. Overwhelming pressure caused by such conditions

predisposes adolescents to think about committing suicide more than any other category of the

human population. Failure to address the toxicity of the environment, lack of parental concern,

and peer pressure are likely to predispose adolescents to suicide ideation. Therefore, it is crucial

to address the issue of suicide among adolescents because apart from the psychotic experiences

that increase vulnerability to suicide, the sensitivity and vulnerability of adolescents to psychotic

experiences are higher than children and adults. It is crucial to address suicide tendencies and

ideation among adolescents to reduce deaths associated with suicide among adolescents.

Purpose of the Study

Sher, (2019) observers that suicide is affecting a significant number of adolescents and

youth in the U.S.A and across the globe at present. Consequently, it has become a hot topic

worth being given special attention by both the government and the department of health. This

 Web Content: https://reachfamilies.umn.edu/sites/default/files/rdoc/Adolescent%20Suicide.pdf…  Self: Submitted to Grand Canyon University

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study seeks to explain why the problem of suicide ideation is rampant among adolescents and

youth. By considering the complexity of adolescence as a stage of development, the paper seeks

to explain vulnerability to peer pressure and engagement in vices such as drugs and substance

abuse contributes to increased trauma and psychosis among this group of individuals, thus

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leading to a higher rate of suicide ideation Torok et al 2020). Furthermore, this study also seeks

to examine and explain the correlation between toxic socialization and increased cases of suicide

among adolescents. Finally, this paper will conclude by examining whether psychosocial

counseling can help in reducing the prevalence of suicide ideation among adolescents.

Research Questions

i) How do drug use and drug abuse exacerbate suicidal thoughts among adolescents?

ii) Is toxic socialization a contributing factor to increased psychosis and suicide ideation

cases?

iii) What role do peer pressure and desire for conformity play in the increased suicidal cases

among adolescents?

iv) Can counseling reduce suicide among adolescents?

Research hypothesis

H1: Individuals who live in toxic social environments are more likely to experience psychosis,

trauma, and depression and are disproportionately prone to suicide ideation.

H2: Psychosocial counseling and proper parental support can help in reducing cases of suicide

among adolescents and youth.

Literature Review

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) proposes one of the most

prominent definitions of suicide. According to C.D.C. (2021), it refers to a fatality arising from

injury of oneself to die. It also regards suicidal attempts as phenomena that occur when people

harm themselves to end their lives but fail to die due to their decisions. Many factors interact to

predispose or protect people from suicidal thoughts. This problem is, for instance, linked to

varying forms of violence and injuries. Individuals with negative past experiences of assaults,

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bullying, child abuse, and sexual harassment have the highest suicide risk factors. Being linked

to family and societal support history and increased access to health care services reduces suicide

ideation and tendencies.

In the last few years, suicidal rates have risen phenomenally in the United States. In 2019

and 2020, for instance, this health problem has been the leading cause of fatalities in the country,

with approximately 45,979 cases recorded in 2020 (C.D.C., 2021). This figure, if simplified,

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amounts to one death every eleven-minute. Additionally, the number of individuals

contemplating taking their lives is approximately 12 million adults, with 1.2 million planning or

attempting to take their lives.

Demographic factors also play an integral role in heightening suicide ideation.

Individuals from low-income groups are, for instance, more likely to engage in suicide ideation

than their wealthier peers. This problem is primarily owed to life stressors such as

unemployment and the inability to meet daily personal and family financial obligations.

Additionally, age variation also exists among those who plan suicide, with the leading being

among people aged between 10 to 14 and 25 to 34 years, respectively. Moreover, immigrants

exhibit higher rates of suicide than their native counterparts owing to the life stressor that they

undergo, such as homelessness and inadequate access to necessities such as food, shelter, and

clothing. Other risk factors that predispose them to suicide include cultural barriers, loss of

status, loss of social network, and a stressful acculturation rate (Bridley & Daffin, 2020).

Research Design

The qualitative methodology will be used to conduct the study. The researcher has settled

on qualitative research because of its distinctive characteristic of providing qualified

explanations of the study problem. Furthermore, the qualitative study approach is appropriate for

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this study because it aims at understanding social events and people’s experiences Cleary,

2019)since suicide among adolescents is a social phenomenon caused by psychotic experiences,

including domestic violence, accidents, and alcohol and substance abuse, qualitative analysis is

more appropriate for interrogating the problem. The phenomenological qualitative design is the

best research design for this study. It is concerned with understanding why specific events occur

and seeking to find answers to social issues (Doupnik, et al., 2018). Therefore, the qualitative

phenomenological methodology is appropriate since it will aid in understanding the reasons for

suicide among adolescents, which will inform strategic recommendations that can be applied to

mitigate the issue of suicide among adolescents.

Ethical Considerations

Considering that this experiment will involve human subjects the researcher has put into

consideration several ethical considerations, for instance, all participants in the research will

have to sign a consent form before participating in the experiment to ensure that only participants

who are willing to participate in the research are engaged. The researcher will therefore not

coerce anybody to participate in the research. Where participants have not attained the majority

age the researcher will seek parental consent as required for experiments involving minors.

Secondly, the researcher will ensure integrity and privacy of participant information gathered

during the study. No information gathered for purposes of this study will be used for other

activities other than the research into suicide, unless authorized by the participants. The study

will designed in a way that recognizes and respects human dignity. This will include among

other things ensuring safety of the participants.

Limitations

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This research has explained in detail the concept of suicide ideation. However, it has not

adequately addressed other factors, such as biological and hereditary factors. Additionally, the

research has been silent about other predisposing factors to suicidal thoughts, such as

occupations and engagements. Moreover, the research has not exhausted other important

elements such as the pharmacological interventions available for this problem because of limited

financial resources. Consequently, the researcher recommends further studies on this topic to

better understand other factors that contribute to suicidal thoughts and the potential

pharmacological management approaches.

References

Apter, A. (2020). Suicide and Suicidal Behavior. Public Health Reviews, 34(2), 1.

Brådvik, L. (2018). Suicide risk and mental disorders. International journal of environmental

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research and public health, 15(9), 2028.

Bridley, A., & Daffin Jr, L. W. (2020). Abnormal Psychology. Washington State University.

Burke, M., González, F., Baylis, P., Heft-Neal, S., Baysan, C., Basu, S., & Hsiang, S. (2018).

Higher temperatures increase suicide rates in the United States and Mexico. Nature

climate change, 8(8), 723-729.

C.D.C. (2021). Facts about suicide.

https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/index.html#:~:text=Suicide%20is%20death%20caused

%20by,a%20result%20of%20their%20actions.

Cleary, A. (2019). The gendered landscape of suicide: Masculinities, emotions, and culture.

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Springer.

Doupnik, S. K., Rudd, B., Schmutte, T., Worsley, D., Bowden, C. F., McCarthy, E., ... &

Marcus, S. C. (2020). Association of suicide prevention interventions with subsequent

suicide attempts, linkage to follow-up care, and depression symptoms for acute care

settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA psychiatry, 77(10), 1021-1030.

Sher, L. (2019). Resilience as a focus of suicide research and prevention. Acta Psychiatrica

Scandinavica, 140(2), 169-180.

Tomasi, S. E., Fechter-Leggett, E. D., Edwards, N. T., Reddish, A. D., Crosby, A. E., & Nett, R.

J. (2019). Suicide among veterinarians in the United States from 1979 through

2015. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 254(1), 104-112.

Torok, M., Han, J., Baker, S., Werner-Seidler, A., Wong, I., Larsen, M. E., & Christensen, H.

(2020). Suicide prevention using self-guided digital interventions: a systematic review

and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. The Lancet Digital Health, 2(1), e25-

e36.