DRUG USE AND ADOLESCENT SUICIDE

This research examines the relationship between suicide by teenagers and drug consumption by teenagers. The term "drugs" includes illegal street narcotics and alcohol. The term "teenage" refers to 15-19 year olds. The suicide rate for 15-19 year olds is 10.2 persons per 100,000 population--18.2 for white males, the highest in this age group, and 2.1 for black females, the lowest in this age group. For all age groups, the suicide rate in the United States is 12.8 persons per 100,000 population. Thus, suicide among white male teenagers is a significant social problem. In numbers of deaths, as opposed to rates per 100,000 population, somewhat less than 3,000 persons among the 15-19 year olds commit suicide each year. As a leading cause of death, suicide ranks third for persons in this age group.

While fewer teenagers are consuming alcohol and other illegal narcotics in the mid-1990s than was the case five years earlier, the proportion of problem drug users among contemporary teenagers is greater than among earlier generations (Wood, Cochran, Pfefferbaum, & Arneklev, 1995, pp. 173-193). Various surveys indicate that the proportion of regular users of alcohol and illegal narcotics among American teenagers is in the range of 24 percent to 60 percent, while from 12 percent to 43 percent of teenagers participate in heavy drug consumption in binges. Approximately 20 percent of American teenagers are considered to be problem drug

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wson, and Sherick (pp. 504-510). Major differences existed between the two sets of findings, however, in two areas. First, when depressive measures were controlled, Asarnow, Carlson, and Guthrie (pp. 361-366) found that the correlation between hopelessness measures and suicide attempts and suicide ideation was no longer significant. This finding led the researchers to conclude that was the combined effects of hopelessness and depression led children to suicidal behavior, as opposed to either of the two factors acting alone. This finding did not challenge the link between drug use and suicide, but the finding did alter the interactive functions. Second, Asarnow, Carlson, and Guthrie (pp. 361-366) found that the strongest predictor of suicidal behavior in teenagers was perceived family environment. The researchers found that teenagers prone to suicidal behavior were likely "to perceive their family as unsupportive and stressful, with poor control, high conflict, and a lack of cohesiveness" (Asarnow, Carlson, & Guthrie, p. 365). Drug use was a frequent coping strategy for such subjects. A major outcome of dysfunctional family environments is the development of depressive symptoms by the children of such households. Depressio

Category: Psychology - D