Suicide Among Teenagers and Young Adults: The Causes, Trends and Intervention

Abstract

Individuals who are currently teenagers and young adults seem to be sharply different in their thought patterns due to their time of arrival. They  emerged at the period of smartphones, tablets, and internet explosion. These perhaps are creating challenges for them which are constituting  suicide cases. Suicide remains a major cause of death in various populations varying in age, but its rate among teenagers and adolescents in  Nigeria is now so alarming. Active help seeking is very instrumental to the prevention of suicide. Considering the adverse effects of suicide, the help-  seeking behaviours of teenagers and young adults in Nigeria remains a concern. Therefore, this paper used documentary analysis to review  the causes and trends of suicide among teenagers and young adults in Nigeria. Help-seeking behaviour as a potential solution to suicide behaviour  was equally explored. Theoretical explanation of the relationship between suicide behaviour and help-seeking behaviour was discussed. The  findings showed that suicide among teenagers and young adults is a multifaceted phenomenon which can be attributed to several factors such as  conflict, social pressure, stress, and hopelessness, poor parent-student relationships, low social support, previous attempt(s), academic hardiness  and not seeking for help among others. It was equally found that teenagers and young adults do not seek professional help especially in Nigeria.  Therefore, the paper it was recommended that emphasis should be laid on active help-seeking behaviour when initiating and designing suicide  prevention programs for teenagers and young adults with increased, intensified and serious consideration of stigma, experimentation, sense of  selfautonomy, and curiosity which are their common characteristics.