Understanding Adolescent Suicide- Emotional Turbulence, Social Hostility, and Developmental Theories

Understanding Adolescent Suicide- Emotional Turbulence, Social Hostility, and Developmental Theories

Teen suicide is characterized by many risk factors, including social hostility and emotional turbulence. The adolescence phase is also where teenagers find themselves, their identity and their role in society. When it comes to emotional turmoil, a teen may be vulnerable to suicide when their family, sexual orientation, self-esteem, or culture are different from the majority of their peers in society. When these attributes are encountered with social hostility, such as social isolation, bullying, violence and even drug use, they exacerbate the individual’s vulnerability to committing suicide.

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development phases shows that other people matter significantly at this phase, which may result in the conforming of other people’s expectations. A teen may desire to meet other people’s expectations, resulting in confusion and thus pushing them to commit suicide. According to Gilligan’s theory of caring, increased stress can be a variable in adolescent suicide (Coon & Mitterer, 2012). This theory also holds that teens make decisions based on their self-environment and social environment. Wang (2016) writes that Emilie, a teen living in a White-dominated environment, experienced stress factors in fifth grade when other students mocked her dressing style as she was of Chinese background.

Consequently, this escalated to cyber-bullying and physical messages about race and perceived sexual orientation. Gilligan states that these stress factors may have added to Emilie’s emotional turmoil of being different from others and her adoptive parents. The social stressors, including the mocking and bullying at schools, contributed to Emilie’s low feelings and insecurity. Erickson’s psychological phases theory states that the psychosocial crisis in isolation and intimacy makes adolescents consider themselves failures leading to suicide (Coon & Mitterer, 2012). Since Emilie could not change herself, she felt alienated and committed suicide. Therefore, these theories confirm that social turbulence and emotional turmoil can lead to teen suicide.

In conclusion, a bullied teen is susceptible to committing suicide. Gilligan’s theory of care can be used to assist such an individual because physical and psychological assistance is ideal for the victim’s health. This theory allows therapists or counselors to offer help and communicate with the bullied victim to help them process the situation, heal and move on as opposed to thinking about suicide.

References

Coon, D., & Mitterer, J. O. (2012). Introduction to psychology: Gateways to mind and behavior with concept maps and reviews. Cengage Learning.

Wang, Y. (2016). After Years of alleged Bullying, an Ohio Teen killed herself. Is her School District Responsible? The Washington Post.

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How does emotional turbulence versus social hostility count as an explanation for teen suicide, Or is it a combination of the two?

Drawing upon Kohlberg’s theory of stages of moral development, Gilligan’s theory of caring, and Erikson’s psychosocial stages theory, discuss reasons why adolescents might turn to suicide.
Using one of these theories suggests how to help a teen who has been a victim of bullying.