Suicide and suicidal attempts are, contrary to popular wisdom, quite frequent in childhood and adolescence. Even in the 1970s, suicidal death was shown to be one of the fastest growing adolescent problems, ranking fourth as the leading cause of death in the fifteen to nineteen year age group.1 This view is echoed in the more current literature in the field, and also emphasizes that 59 to 71 percent of surveyed adolescents believe suicide to be a potential for most within that age group.2
Similarly, attitudes toward death within the fabric of American society have significantly changed in post World War II society, primarily because of the pervasive influence of television and the rapid rise in the importance of the media. Prior to the advent of the media age, most Americans lived in smaller, more tightly knit communities. Both suicide and accidental death were thus experienced at a more personal level members of the community facing the situation locally.3
1 J. M. Toolan, "Suicide in Children and Adolescents," American Journal of Psychotherapy 29 (1987): 339.
2 G. Domino, J.C. MacGregor, and M.T. Hannah, "Collegiate Attitudes Toward Suicide," Omega 19 (1988 89): 359.
3 R. Fulton and G. Owen, "Death and Society in Twentieth Century America," Omega 15 (1988): 379 95.
As television and motion pictures grew in popularity, however, images of violence, death, and suicide formed more of a cognitive pattern within the framework of popular culture. Films such as "Halloween," "The Road Warrior," and "Rambo" depict death in vivid color and often in slow motion. This detailed destruction of humans serves to eclipse the meaning of death and lessen its impact upon the viewer. Conversely, this media image of death may also serve to inspire imitative behavior among impressionable children and adolescents, with suicidal death being somehow "greater than life" and awe inspiring.4
Comparing adolescents in psychological resea...