Suicide Essay

Suicide is when somebody takes their own life intentionally. Suicidal behaviour, such as thoughts and behaviours, are what put people at risk of wanting to end their own life. [1] A person's death is classified as suicide if there is clear evidence shown of "the person dying as a result of a deliberate act to cause his or her own death." [3] Suicide is a significant health issue facing many youths today because it is a leading cause death amongst young people, second to death by motor vehicle accidents, which is the the leading cause of death for young people in Australia. In 2012, 70 Australian males aged 15-19 died by suicide and 59 Australian females aged 15-19 also died this way. [10] Suicide can have a long lasting, negative effect on families, friends and communities. This is why suicide is such a significant health issue facing many Australian youth. Key trends shown in recent years of suicide include; suicide is much more common in males than females, [4] young Aboriginal Torres straight Islander males are more likely to die of suicide than other young Australian males, as are young female Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander youth. [4] In remote rural Australia suicide rates for young males are nearly twice those of males living in capital cities, [5] and that females are more likely to deliberately injure themselves than males. [7]

The incidence of suicide in 2012 accounted for 21.9% of deaths for 15-19 year old males and 28.7% of deaths among 20-24 year old males. The corresponding percentages for females in both of these age groups are 32.6% and 25.2% respectively. [10] The prevalence of suicide ranks in the top ten causes of death in most western countries. In Australia suicide is now a leading cause of death by injur...

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...suicidal thoughts may be more focused on these thoughts rather than developing key knowledge needed to preform everyday tasks. They may miss school due to a lack of energy and therefore miss out on learning skills such as language, memory and problem solving. Attention is an important factor of intellectual development, and youth suffering from suicidal thoughts, may have difficulty concentrating in class and therefore miss out on key learning concepts.

People who are dealing with the emotions and feelings leading to suicidal thoughts may not be aware of these emotions and therefore there will be a decease in their emotional development. They may not be able to cope with these feelings which is why they may choose to take their own lives rather than deal with these emotions. Poor family bonding can also lead to the affect of emotional development of youth. [13]