Teenage Suicide Cases In India and Worldwide

Running head: TEENAGE SUICIDE
Teenage Suicide: Why it Happens and What to Do about It
Task 2
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Content
Chapter 1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................3
1.1 Background of the Study.......................................................................................................3
1.2 Problem Statement.................................................................................................................3
1.3 Research Questions................................................................................................................3
1.4 Research Objectives...............................................................................................................4
1.5 Significance of the Study.......................................................................................................4
1.6 Hypothesis.............................................................................................................................5
Chapter 2 Theory and Literature Review........................................................................................5
Chapter 3 Methodology...................................................................................................................7
3.1 Research Design....................................................................................................................7
3.2 Population & Sample.............................................................................................................8
3.3 Research Instrument..............................................................................................................8
3.4 Data Analysis.........................................................................................................................9
3.5 Procedures..............................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
With the advancement of civilisation and growing complexities in lifestyles the rate of
depression disorder, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder and anxiety disorder is
increasing. As a result of severe mental disorder the suicidal tendencies are also increasing
across the globe. Surprisingly, the number of cases of teen and teen suicide is growing
worldwide. The suicidal tendencies share the physiological, psychological, and social
determinants. The teenage or adolescent group implies the population within the age group of 10
to 19 years (Moreno, 2016). Self-destructive thoughts or suicidal behaviours is the results of
severe depression and different psychotic disorders. These disorders can be either the result of
biological issues or the result of different environmental factors such as personal and social
attributes. Approximately seven major factors contribute to the development of suicidal
tendencies among adolescents. Such causes include history of psychological disorders, personal
stress concerns, social interaction, substance abuse, neurobiological anomalies, hormonal
abnormalities and age group (Akkaya-Kalayci et al., 2017).
1.2 Problem Statement
The depression driven suicide attempt is also becoming a common factor in Malaysia.
Among Malaysia's teenage population, suicide will be the major cause of death within 10 to 15
years (Abdul Aziz et al., 2019). As per the national survey conducted across Malaysia on 2017,
within the age group of 13 to 17 years, 10 out of 100 teenagers had suicidal thoughts, where the
percentage was 7.9 percent on 2012 (Paun, 2020). It has been found that for each suicide around

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20 family members and friends would be impacted socially, emotionally and economically. As
found by Kok (2014), adolescent suicide increases the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and severe
mental disorders within the family members, siblings and friends. According to WHO, teenage
suicide is among the top ten death causes globally for the age group of 15 to 25. In 2018, the
ministry of health, Malaysia decided to provide mandatory mental health screening in 60 public
hospitals, 1001 primary health clinics and 21 mental health community centres (NST Online,
2019). The screening will include both clinical test and face to face interview based assessment.
Hence, in order to develop and implement effective assessment tools and treatment procedures,
understanding of the causes, symptoms of teenage suicide is very essential. Therefore, critical
analysis of biological, psychological and social determinants is required to identify the major
drivers while aiming at reducing the number of teenage suicide cases (Bratsis, 2014).
1.3 Research Questions
Form the above problem statement it has been identified that the there are many questions
that should be answered through this research. These research questions are:
 What are the theoretical aspects of suicidal tendency within adolescent?
 What is the current situation of suicidal tendency within adolescents in Malaysia?
 Which are the underlying factors of suicidal tendency within adolescents in Malaysia?
 How significantly the underlying factors are associated with suicidal tendency?
 What are the recommend strategies and preventive measures to reduce teenage suicide
rate in Malaysia?
1.4 Research Objectives

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The aim of this research is to find out the underlying factor of teenage suicidal behaviour
for the Malaysian population for developing appropriate recommendations to reduce the number
of teenage suicide cases. Therefore, the objectives of this study are:
 To explore the theoretical aspects of suicidal tendency within adolescent
 To explore the current situation of suicidal tendency within adolescents in Malaysia
 To find out about underlying factors of suicidal tendency within adolescents in Malaysia
 To examine the significance of underlying factors of suicidal tendency within adolescents
in Malaysia
 To recommend strategies and preventive measures to reduce teenage suicide rate
1.5 Significance of the Study
Through this study the critical analysis of practical influence of biological, psychological
and social determinants on the suicidal behaviour of the Malaysian teenagers will help to
highlight the current situation and significant issues. The recommendation and preventive
measures that will be present in this study will also help to develop a social care intervention
plan for reducing the number of teenage suicide cases in Malaysia.
1.6 Hypothesis
H0: Suicidal tendency is not dependent on any psychological and social factors
HA1: Chronic depressive disorder influences suicidal tendency
HA2: Attachment with parents influence suicidal tendency
HA3: History of sexual or physical victimisation influences suicidal tendency

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HA4: Substance abuse influences the suicidal tendency
HA5: Family history of suicide is associated with the suicidal tendency
HA6: Academic stress or struggle is associated with the suicidal tendency
Chapter 2 Theory and Literature Review
The major determinants of teenage suicidal tendencies are ranged from psychological
issues, sociological issues and biological issues. The major psychological issues are
psychological disorders and personal stress issues. The major sociological issues are lack of
social interaction, history of being physically or mentally abused and history of substance abuse.
The major biological issues associated with suicidal tendencies are neurobiological
abnormalities, hormonal changes within the particular age group. According to McLoughlin,
Gould and Malone (2015), Adolescents belonging to their late adolescence have been found to
be more likely to suffer suicidal tendencies. The major contributor to suicidal tendencies is the
history of depressive disorders and other psychological disorders such as bipolar disorder.
Though stress and anxiety are highly associated with chronic depressive disorder the study
conducted by Paun (2020), the anxiety issues are not significantly associated with the suicidal
tendency. Therefore, social determines, personal issues, stress level are the initial regulator of
depressive behaviour. With the severity of these determinants the severity of the depressive or
self-destructive mood is conditioned resulting the suicidal tendencies. Personal and sociological
factors are also found to be highly associated with severe depression and suicidal behaviour.
According to Abdul et al. (2019), lack of parental support, lack of connectivity with parents and
education related stress are often found to be strongly linked to extreme deprive illness and
suicidal tendencies. Other issues such as history of physical and mental abuse that includes peer

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victimisation such as bullying, social isolation, physical abuse increases the suicidal tendencies
(Pandey, 2013).
The neurobiological issues described in many studies are also the result of psychological
disorders during adolescent neuropsychiatric development. As studied by Manceaux, Jacques
and Zdanowicz (2015), Serotonin receptor subtypes which include HTA, 5HT are the main
neurobiological abnormalities associated with suicidal tendencies and severe depressive disorder.
In addition, irregular receptor-linked signalling is also highly associated with severe depression
and self-destructive tendencies due to unique neurological development during puberty, kinase-
3b and associated beta receptors, BDNF and Trk-B receptors and cytokines. According to
Jacquesand Zdanowicz (2020), sexual hormone, cortisol and adrenaline and BDNF are the major
contributors of elevation of depressive mood in severe depression disorder. The study conducted
by Kok (2014) on the signs and symptoms in the adolescents who suffered for suicidal behaviour
and tendencies, it has been found that the major sign or mental states associated with suicidal
tendencies are questioning about self-existential questions because of losing interest on social
interaction and cognitive engagement with surroundings resulting ultimate social withdrawal and
withdrawal from life.
There are many preventive actions that can be taken to reduce the psychological distress
within a teenager that can eventually minimise the neurobiological abnormalities and hormonal
misbalance. Informing parent about depressive and suicidal behaviour is also critical, which will
allow the parents to identify teenager’s needs and time to consult psychologists. Strict
monitoring on student’s behaviour and taking actions will be effective for minimizing peer
victimisation such as bullying and other types of abuse. Proper identification and rehabilitation
are crucial for controlling the substance abuse in teenage group. Access to psychological clinics

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should be increased so that the teenagers that need psychological and psychiatric treatment can
easily access the services (Bratsis, 2014).
Chapter 3 Methodology
3.1 Research Design
In order to select the research design the selection of the research philosophy and the
research approach is essential. The aim of this study is to collect the data from a large sample
size in order to find the data trend through analysing the data collectively. Therefore the
positivism research philosophy will be used. This study has some pre-determined assumptions or
hypothesis to testify. Therefore, among deductive, inductive and abductive approach, for this
study the inductive research approach is chosen. The purpose of the method of this study is to
explore the current situation of Malaysian teenagers who have experienced suicidal tendencies
and associated issues. Therefore, this study does not have any association with any kind of
external experimental intervention. The study will be used a one-time survey based data
collection. Therefore the chosen research design is cross-sectional study where a questionnaire
will be distributed within the target population.
3.2 Population & Sample
The target population of this study is the teenage population within as well as the late
adolescent population. Therefore, the chosen age group of the population is 10 to 19 years. The
upper age limit is extended from 19 to 20 in order to include the persons who have experienced
suicidal tendencies in their adolescent period. At the same time 20 can be also considered under
the late adolescence period. For sampling the random cluster sampling will be used through

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using the inclusion criteria. Since, the study is based on the teenagers of the Malaysia the
inclusion criteria will be the participants should belong to 10 to 20 years of age group, must be
citizen of the Malaysia and must have previous experience of suicidal tendencies or attempt. It is
a cross sectional study and therefore the randomisation will be done after collecting the initial
responses.
3.3 Research Instrument
Research instrument refers to the data collection tool used on this data. As discussed in the
research design the instrument will be designed as a close ended survey where multiple
demographic questions and questions about social, psychological and personal attributes will be
present. As demographic data, the information about the age of the participants and the academic
persuasion of the participants will be collected through nominal variables based 5 options. The
major attributes of the questionnaire will be history of depressive disorder, attachment of
participants with their parents, history of sexual or physical victimisation, history of substance
abuse, family history of suicide and level academic stress or struggle. For each attributes 2
questions will be present in the questionnaire. The 5 option likert’s scale will be used for
presenting the option in ordinal way. For this questionnaire highly disagree will be denoted as 1,
disagree will be denoted as 2, neither agree nor disagree will be denoted as 3, agree will be
denoted as 4 and highly agree will be denoted as 5.
3.4 Data Analysis

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As per the data collection tools the data will be based on ordinal or nominal option and
numeric values. Therefore, for this data analysis quantitative data analysis procedure will be used
through utilising statistical and mathematical calculations. In order explore the current situation
of Malaysia teenager in terms of their demographic details and suicidal tendency descriptive
statistics will be used. For nominal data the percentage distribution analysis will be used and for
ordinal data mean, median, mode, standard deviation will be used. In order to test the hypothesis
the regression analysis will be used. For critical analysis of findings the t-stats and P value will
be considered. The probability testing value will be 0.05 and therefore for p value less that the
probability value the respective hypothesis will be accepted and the p value greater that
probability value the respective hypothesis will be rejected. The t-stat data will be used to
determine the positive or negative association between dependent and independent factor.
3.5 Procedures
For this cross sectional research the procedure will be started with developing a digital
questionnaire as well as the links. After that, the questionnaire link will be distributed across the
social media platform with a consent form. The consent form will consist of the assurance of
data protection, the purpose of the research, the significance of participation and other ethical
concern. After receiving the acknowledgement the survey will be conducted. The online data
collection method will be used for the participants of 15 to 20 years of age. For teenagers below
15 years of age, offline survey procedure will be used. For collecting data about this age group
the survey will be conducted from at least 20 secondary schools across Malaysia. For this survey,
the consent form will be developed for the parents and after receiving the consent from the
parents the teenagers within 10 to 15 years of age will be recruited for the survey. After
collecting the data the data will be stored in a digital database. The database will be private and

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secured in a way so that the data cannot be used in any other research except this one. For
analysing the data through statistical methods the SPSS statistical data analysis software will be
used.

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References
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Sooryanarayana, R., ... & Jamaluddin, R. (2019). Factors Associated With Suicidal
Attempt Among School-Going Adolescents in Malaysia. Asia Pacific Journal of Public
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Akkaya-Kalayci, T., Vyssoki, B., Winkler, D., Willeit, M., Kapusta, N. D., Dorffner, G., &
Özlü-Erkilic, Z. (2017). The effect of seasonal changes and climatic factors on suicide
attempts of young people. BMC psychiatry, 17(1), 365.
Bratsis, M. E. (2014). Preventing Teen Suicide. The Science Teacher, 81(6), 14.
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prevention programs on the help-seeking attitudes and behaviors of youths. Crisis.
Kok, J. K. (2014). The will to die and the will to live: An ontological quest for teenagers who
suffer from depression, a study from Malaysia. International Journal of Social Science
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Manceaux, P., Jacques, D., & Zdanowicz, N. (2015). Hormonal and developmental influences on
adolescent suicide: a systematic review. Psychiatr Danub, 27(suppl 1), S300-S304.
McLoughlin, A. B., Gould, M. S., & Malone, K. M. (2015). Global trends in teenage suicide:
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Moreno, M. A. (2016). Preventing adolescent suicide. JAMA pediatrics, 170(10), 1032-1032.
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