Elizabeth Register
09/18/2024
IHP-340
Professor Byas
Final Project: Milestone One
For my final project I selected the article “Differences by age and sex in adolescent suicide”. This
article draws attention to the variations of suicide rates among adolescents based on their age and
gender. The article poses the question of “Are there significant differences in suicide rates among
adolescents based on their age and sex?”. Which leads to an understanding of the hypothesis which
is, there are significant differences in suicide rates among adolescents based on their age and sex.
This study shows to have an observational study design. We can come to this conclusion
by understanding that the researchers did not manipulate any variables, just simply observed and
recorded the suicide rates among different age and sex groups of adolescents.
The study reviewed data containing suicide deaths from the Victorian Suicide Register,
which were also reported to the Coroners Court of Victoria over the ten-year period of January 1,
2006, through December 31, 2015, where the deceased were aged between 10-19 years old. These
methods can be considered appropriate as they promote a comprehensive collection of data on
adolescent suicide rates, which is needed to answer the research question.
We can conclude from the article that the data collected is quantitative and not categorical.
This conclusion is supported by the fact that the researchers collected numerical data on suicide
rates among different age and sex groups of adolescents.
All studies come with weaknesses within data collection methods. We can argue that a
weakness within this case is the potential for reporting bias. Since the date relies heavily on
existing records and surveys, it could be possible that some of cases of suicide were not reported
or could have been inaccurately reported.
Lee, S. (2019a, June). Differences by age and sex in adolescent suicides. Proquest.com.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2301367307/82D228E41E31474EPQ/1?accountid=3783&so
urcetype=Scholarly%20Journals
