Suicide And Suicide

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 800,000 people die by suicide every year, with one person dying every 40 seconds. It is the second leading cause of death among 15 to 29-year-olds; most of whom are adolescents (Suicide, 2015). Reports of suicide have been increasing in the Philippines and have become an alarming issue in the country. In a study conducted by Redaniel, Lebanan-Dalida, & Gunnel (2011), the incidence of suicide had increased for both males and females between 1984 and 2005. Suicide rates went from 0.23 to 3.59 per 100,000 males, and from 0.12 to 1.09 per 100,000 females between 1984 and 2005. Suicide and suicide behavior are issues that the Philippine government and various organizations are seeking to prevent,

In suicidology, many interacting factors are associated with suicide but there is no single factor is causally sufficient, thus making suicide complex concept (Pompili, 2010). Epidemiologists study suicide through associated risk factors, which are used to predict the likelihood of suicide behavior. Past research has identified demographic, psychiatric, psychological, biological, and stressful life events as the strongest major risk factors in predicting suicide behavior (Nock et al., 2008). Other risk factors associated with suicide behaviors include family disturbances, mental health problems, and previous suicide attempts (Scanlan & Purcell, 2009). Such risk factors may be considered “distal causes,” in that they influence the development of the specific emotions and cognitions that precipitate suicide behavior, but cannot be considered the direct cause of a suicide attempt. Hopelessness and helplessness, both associated with depression, are the strongest predictors of suicide behavior. These may be considered “proximal causes,” in that they saturate the conscious awareness of the person in order to precede and produce suicide behavior and suicide attempts. Factors that help decrease a person’s probability of attempting suicide are called protective factors. Research studies have found religiosity to be one of the strongest among them. Moral objections and social support also seem

In their study, they found that the domains neuroticism and extraversion are notably related to suicide risk. Neuorticism has a positive relationship with suicide behavior while extraversion has a negative relationship.

Adolescence is the period in a person’s life wherein a lot of changes occur. One of these changes is in the physical aspect, which includes gain in height, weight, and various bodily changes. At this point in life, a person may begin to question his identity, leading to a pursuit of identity and interdependence (Santrock, 2011). Suicide and suicide behavior in adolescents have become great concerns in our society (Reynolds & Mazza, 1999). According to Shain (2007), suicide is the third leading cause of death among adolescents from ages 15-19. Since adolescents are the ones most affected by the issue, they were selected to be the focus of this research. This study was also conducted to validate previous research studies regarding this topic. As such, the researchers explored the relationship between the five factor model personality traits and suicide behavior among