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Young People's Reasons for Feeling Suicidal
1School of Psychology, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Crisis
|March 20, 2019
Summary
Young people experiencing suicidal thoughts often feel lonely, worthless, and mentally unwell. Suicide prevention strategies must address these immediate reasons to effectively support at-risk youth.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Digital Health
Background:
- Limited understanding of youth-described reasons for suicidality.
- Online communications offer insights into real-time suicidal ideation.
- Previous research focused on external explanations rather than youth perspectives.
Purpose of the Study:
- Identify reasons for suicidality cited by young people.
- Analyze themes in online suicide prevention forum posts.
- Understand the meanings youth associate with suicidal feelings.
Main Methods:
- Thematic analysis of 210 posts from a Tumblr suicide prevention forum.
- Filtering posts over a two-month period for suicide-related content.
- Qualitative analysis to identify reasons and associated meanings.
Main Results:
- Six key reasons for suicidality emerged: loneliness, social disconnection, identity stigma, unmet expectations, helplessness, and mental ill-health.
- Analysis revealed the subjective meanings youth attribute to these suicidal drivers.
- Social media data provided a window into immediate crisis factors.
Conclusions:
- Effective suicide prevention requires addressing the immediate, self-reported reasons for suicidal feelings in youth.
- Interventions should be tailored to the specific psychosocial factors identified by young people.
- Online platforms can be valuable sources for understanding youth mental health crises.