Suicides in Colleges Problem Research Paper

Research title

To investigate the causes, laws regulating, methods of suicide philosophical implications and religious dimension of suicide in colleges.

Research Framework

College going students are prone to committing suicide due to the age disposition that comes along with a lot of physical and mental changes. For this reason this paper attempts to give detailed information on the causes and effects of the high levels of suicide with the aim of providing a starting point for dealing with it. (Suicide.org, 2009)

Research hypothesis

The Levels of suicide in colleges are high and could rise if nothing is done about it.

Research objectives

1. To investigate the causes and methods of suicide in colleges.
2. To study the regulation of law on suicide and cases of aiding the suicide of another person.
3. To determine the philosophical implications of suicide and the religious dimensions to suicide. (Suicide.org, 2009)

Research Methodology

Data collection is majorly based on secondary data from library materials and primary data from medical institutions. Journals and books on suicide will form the source of data. Primary data will be collected using questionnaires and interviews with students among other people within the college. The library research will have the larger share of the data while the local primary documents will take a smaller portion. (Suicide.org, 2009)Information from the data collected will be used for recommendations and conclusion.

Literature review and data analysis

Suicide is the purposeful ending of ones life due to personal, cultural and social factors. It’s the third leading cause of death among people aged 10 to 24 years which is the college going age. Doctor assisted suicide on the other side is ending the life of a fatally sick or injured person in a method that is painless or causes minimal pain with the intention of ending the suffering of the individual or saving another. (Salib, Cawley &Healy, 2002)It is also referred to as Euthanasia and is a constitutional right for a person who chooses to do it.

The causes of suicide

According to the research, the causes of suicide are depression that results from social or cultural factors like segregation and racism and genetically inclined depression among college students. Untreated mental illnesses among other physical illnesses are a major cause for suicide in colleges. Another cause for suicide is the feelings of disparity that result from the death of a loved one, divorce, separation or breakup from a relationship, victimization and assault like rape of a student, fear of legal problems like criminal prosecution and incarceration, substance use and abuse, failure to meet expectations like academic performance and the feelings of shame that result from failure in education or some other aspect of the victim’s life in reference to others success. (Weaver, & Koenig, 2001)

Other causes of suicide among college students include the feelings of guilt that results from wrongdoing that can lead to imprisoned or prosecution. Further causes of suicide include the physical pain resulting from injury or illness, individual anxiety towards events and financial difficulties among other undesirable conditions in the victim’s life. (Zweig, & Hinrichsen, 1993)

Laws regulating suicide

The Greek and Roman law is exclusively against suicide. The Oregon Death with dignity Act allows that terminally ill to end their life through lethal medication by a physician. The U.S congress Act on Assisted Suicide financial support provides that National funds not be used to fund Euthanasia.

Every country’s laws prohibit suicide therefore making Suicide and attempting of the same illegal. This prevents victims from seeking professional help in fear of prosecution due to the control of the state on how persons end their life. However the laws regulating suicide vary from culture to another for example in some Asian groups’ suicide is rewarded an example being Japan in the tradition ‘Hara-kiri’. The Indian practice ‘Suttee’ in which widows kills themselves at the husbands’ funeral pyres which is considered divine. (Mireault, & DeMan, 1996)

Methods of committing suicide

There are two major modes of ending ones life physical or chemically by debilitating the respiratory or the central nervous system that destroys one or more key components of the body. The chemical modes majorly interrupt biological processes like cellular respiration while the physical means seek to stop physical processes like respiration. The major modes of suicide are bleeding oneself to death for example through cutting wrists, drowning in water masses like swimming pools, suffocation, electrocution and jumping off high structure like buildings. Other forms of committing suicide include hanging oneself, shooting oneself using a firearm often at the head and poisoning. Suicide could also be done through self starvation or the use of explosives.

Aiding the suicide of another

This majorly refers to the act of helping an individual end their life through medical means known as euthanasia. It’s normally done on patients with extreme injuries or terminal illness through use of a no pain or minimal pain method to end the pain with the view of saving others or the individual from pain. (Weaver, & Koenig, 2001)

The philosophical implications of suicide

Philosophy is the view of universal and basic problems of life to do with existence, reality, law, justice and intellect with a rational view. The philosophical implications of suicide are that it brings immorality and breakage of ethics in to the society and it shows the level of cowardice in dealing with the problems of human nature and existence. It also implies the high levels of social disintegration within the society.

It shows the level of societal and personal adjustment to changing lifestyles and patterns. According to the absurdist approach, it shows the level of rejection of peace and fleeing from the absurdity of reality into illusion. From a Christian philosophical view the implication is that there is refusal to take an interest in existence and welfare of the world as it looks at suicide as destructive to the world. However suicide was sometimes considered honorable for example when it’s meant to save the life of others or when it’s geared to protest against tyrannical rule. (Mireault, & DeMan, 1996)

The research shows that philosophical arguments consider suicide immoral and unethical based on the fact that the causes of it being depression, emotional pain and economic hardship are transitory and can be solved through therapy or modifying some aspects of life. These problems can also be resolved through counseling and change of lifestyle depending on the severity of the problem. There are also philosophical views that instead of focusing on the absurdity of life the victim should embrace the passion of life through living without relinquishing the ambiguity of life and experiencing the divine irresponsibility of the damned man. (Salib, Cawley &Healy, 2002)

The religious dimensions of suicide

Judaism focuses on the sanctity of life and suicide as a very serious sin as is also forbidden by Jewish law. It sees each life as having a mission to play holding that those who commit or aid suicide do it for overabundance/ selfish motives like killing parents so as not to spent wealth on their healthcare therefore wrong in all situations. Early Christianity considered human life sacred, wonderful, miraculous and divine.

They considered suicide as wrong, against the law and amounting to a religious sin and a secular crime. Those who committed suicide would be denied a Christian burial as punishment and those who attempted it would be excommunicated. Modern Catholicism considers suicide as a mortal sin as belonging to God. (Mireault, & DeMan, 1996)Suicide is against the natural way of human beings protecting and being responsible for their own and others’ life, as it breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other societies they are obligated to and will face a fair and just judgment for their offense. Modern Protestantism considers self murder as sinful as murdering another person and will be judged for the sin.

Islam looks at it as one of the most sinful acts and harmful to the individuals spiritual journey. It’s forbidden under any circumstances and that they will go to hell to continue stubbing themselves if they committed suicide using that method. (Salib, Cawley &Healy, 2002) Buddhism believes that the past influences the past in the doctrine of ‘Karma’ (cycle of death and birth). However it does not condemn it as it believes in honor death incase of protest. In Hinduism suicide is as sinful as murder except for the practice of ‘Sati’ as it leads to becoming a ghost and wander the earth until the time they would have died.

Research Limitations

The research was restricted to a narrow scope of information due to time and budgetary constraints and the findings though factual need further investigation so as to get the information not covered within this research. Unavailability of electronic articles and limited access to data sources like the institutions also limited the research. Secondary data was the major source of data that varies from primary data at times. (Leenaars, 2003)

Research Recommendations

1. Further study should be done on suicide in colleges.
2. Policies should be restructured to avoid the situations that lead to suicide for example racist segregation in the colleges.
3. Direct counseling for students with suicidal signs and behavior should be improvised.
4. The attention given to monitoring of college’s should be intensified so as to find out any individual cases of suicide.
5. The level of social integration should be improved as they form a major cause of suicide.

Conclusion

Majority of those who commit suicide are youth within the age bracket 10-24 years which is the average college going age. This also happens to be the teen age that comes along with many physical and mental changes that may lead to dissociation of these individuals from the society. The reason for this is that this age is also the age that the personality of a person forms, has high exposure to peer pressure and substance use and abuse.

As a result of the instability of the mental ability and physical changes in these individuals, the levels of suicide as a result of societal drive and negligence that may lead to depression, despair and mental health problems among other causes of suicide leaves college students with high chances of committing suicide This creates the need that the focus of society on this group be intensified due to the vulnerability facing it. This can be done through studying the behavior and taking necessary precaution like offering social and behavioral counseling to avoid or reduce the levels of suicide in colleges.

List of References

Leenaars, A. (2003). Can a theory of suicide predict all “suicides” in older adults? Crisis, 24, 7-16.

Mireault, M., & DeMan, A. (1996). Suicidal ideation among older adults: Personal variables, stress and social support. Social Behavior and Personality, 24, 385-392.

Salib, E., Cawley, S., Healy, R. (2002). The significance of suicide notes in older adults. Aging and Mental Health, 6, 186-190.

Suicide. (2009). College student suicide. Web.

Weaver, A., & Koenig, H. (2001). Elderly suicide, mental health professionals, and the clergy: A need for clinical collaboration, training, and research. Death Studies, 20, 495-508.

Zweig, R., & Hinrichsen, G. (1993). Factors associated with suicide attempts by depressed older adults: A prospective study. American Journal of Psychiatry. 150, 1687-1692.