Exposure to a Peer's Suicide - Grief

Exposure to a peer’s suicide can lead to complicated grief among adolescents, which can often be predicted by “demographic characteristics (age and gender), family history of psychiatric disorders, closeness of the relationship to the suicide victim, circumstances of exposure to death, and stressful live events” (Day 22).

During my research, I came across a study that interviewed friends, family, and acquaintances of 26 suicide victims in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA area about their grief following the suicide. The interviews took place 6, 12, 18, and 36 months following the suicide. The most common experience of grief among the friends and family of suicide victims stemmed from the feeling that they could have done something to prevent the death of the victim. This was a “risk factor common to complicated grief, depression, and PTSD … Previous studies found suicide survivors to be more likely than survivors of other causes of death to report that they could have done something to prevent the death” (Day 30).

This becomes important because the network of “complicated grief could be attributed to the fact that vulnerable youths may be more likely to be friends with vulnerable youths” (Day 31).

OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

1. Development Questions
2. Demographics of Youth Suicide: Gender, Age,Geography, Socioeconomic Status
3. Risk Factors for Suicidal Behavior
4. Warning Signs and Common Myths
5. Exposure to Peer Suicide – Grief YOU ARE HERE!
6. Suicide Risk Assessment: Change, Hope,Connection
7. Establishing aConnection: Empathy versus Sympathy
8. Suicide and SocialNetworking Sites
9. Frameworks: ACommunity Based Approach to Preventing Youth Suicide
10. Suicide Intervention and Prevention in Alberta
11. Works Cited