What causes suicide? Some researchers think it's internalized aggression and hopelessness. Also suicide statistics and the leading cause of death.

The American Association of Suicidology reported that in 1996 suicide was the 9^th ranking cause of death in the United States (“Suicide Statistics”). For youth, however, suicide appears to be the 3^rd leading cause of fatality (“Suicide Statistics”). This information is all too disturbing, especially with the realization (and this is repeated in every statistical text concerning suicide) that suicide is the leading cause of death for college students barring car “accidents”. John Donnelly, editor of a book on suicide, relates that a 1991 survey of 11,631 high school students in all 50 states turned up evidence that 27% of the students interviewed seriously considered suicide within the past year and 8% had attempted it (9). More chilling are Donnelly’s statistics which show that in 1994 approximately 5,350 people between the ages of 15 and 24 killed themselves (9). Globally, his statistics put the approximate total number of annual suicides at somewhere around 730,000 (Donnelly 9). Louis Dublin, a sociologist, reported in 1963 that he believed, after gaining much statistical data concerning suicide, at least 200,000 people in America alone attempt suicide each year (3). Of course, all statistics concerning suicide are thought to be inaccurate due to the social stigma surrounding the act, which leads families and doctors to state the causes of death to be something more palatable. Dublin broke the death toll down in these terms: “Out of every 1,000 male infants born, 15 will kill themselves. Out of every 1,000 female infants born, 4 will kill themselves” (15). (For a visual look at the frequency of suicide, please refer to the charts and graphs at the end of this paper.) Obviously suicide is a much more frequent occurrence, especially in a college setting, than most people probably realize.

The frequency of suicide brings up the question, again and again, of what causes it. Sociologists contend the strong influence of social factors and relationships, as well as a complex, impersonal society, leads to self-destruction. Most psychologists, on the other hand, believe suicide results from internalized aggression and hopelessness. Many of these psychologists also have psychodynamic views, which rely greatly on the Freudian school of psychology. A more contemporary scientific area, biochemistry, places much importance on genetics, hormones, and especially neurotransmitters and amino acids.

In most cases, these views alone cannot justify the act of suicide if only because human life is not so simple as to exist solely for one area of science to explain. There are multiple scientific theories because the human mind is far too complex to be ruled by only one type of factor. Be they psychologically or biologically internal, or sociologically external, all factors that shape a human being’s “reality” must also shape the reasons for its destruction. Therefore, sociological, psychological, and biochemical aspects must be interrelated in the causation of suicide.

Sociologists base their study on group theory or the ideology that human beings are social animals who create society and are subsequently influenced by this society. From the day of birth to well after death, most humans spend their entire lives in groups. In the hospital, infants are kept in a room with other infants and after death most bodies are stored with other corpses in cemeteries or mausoleums. These are merely examples of socialization, which incorporates a human from day one until post-mortem. Human groups come in two different types, the primary group and the secondary group. Primary groups consist of family and friends. They are based on identification, emotion, and strong attachments which lead to personal growth and, moreover, development as a human being. Secondary groups are more impersonal and utilitarian, like classrooms or workplaces. In these groups people learn skills that will advance them in the ordered society around them, but they are not nurtured emotionally or identified with on a personal level. Another important element in sociology, which relates to behavioral psychology, is the idea of the “looking-glass self”. The looking-glass self is simply the theory which states people become who they are based on the perceived reactions of others. These are the basics of sociology, all of which form the sociological perspectives on suicide.

Since external factors play a part in life itself, it follows that these factors would also be influential to the taking of that life. Dublin ascertains suicide involves the individual and society because external factors, which the individual cannot control, affect the character and shape the life of the individual (v). He also holds that groups, which have approved patterns of life, assert pressure on the individual (Dublin v). An example of this pressure is discussed by Robert Haughurst in his essay entitled “Suicide and Education.” Haughurst states that the pressure schools place on students to achieve, coupled with the lack of personal attention, can lead to suicide (53). This ties in with the way most sociologists view suicide. They approach suicide by noting the collapse or nonexistence of integral interpersonal bonds or by seeing society as tending toward depersonalization and disorganization. Dublin states suicide is much less common among married people, especially those with children, than it is among single or widowed individuals (27). He feels isolation from friends, family, and socially accepted morals must all contribute to suicidal behavior (54). Jack Douglas, author of The Social Meanings of Suicide, believes the “social validation of self is an absolutely fundamental goal of human beings” which is apparently lacking when humans become isolated from one another (93). Another sociologist, Herbert Krauss, supports this belief. He holds that interpersonal ties are crucial to one’s sense of “personal and social meaning” and that disruption of such ties “spells catastrophe for the individual” (47).

continue: What Causes Suicide? Part 3

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