Teenage Suicide Free Essays

To what extent social factors especially academic pressure cause Korean teenagers to commit suicide? Submitted by: Song da hin Extended Essay Table of Contents To what extent social factors especially academic pressure cause Korean teenagers to commit suicide? 1 Abstract3 Introduction4 Causes contributing Korean teenagers commit suicide5 Conclusion12 Bibliography13 Abstract ‘Committing suicide’ is now Korea’s second leading cause of death for ages from 15 to 24 (NIMH, no date published).From my research, I hope this will alert parents, teachers, friends and even strangers to think about solutions before we get more people suffering from suicidal attempts. The reasons for teenagers committing suicide vary from bullying, depression, diseases and sickness, taking much drink and drugs, media, family problems including economy and the last and most important, society. We will write a custom essay sample on Teenage Suicide or any similar topic only for you Order Now First, it can be about bullying. Teenagers usually tend to reject or isolate a classmate who is different from them; internally or externally.Second, depression which is very much related to the first cause but it does not always come from bullying but also from lots of circumstances. This can be about family relationship, friendship, or any other problem that s/he is facing on. Third, diseases and sicknesses can be another reason. When a teenager is in adolescent period, s/he turns emotions quickly and easily gets stressed with a very minimal reason. Fourth, taking much drugs and alcohol can be another cause. These affect badly on humans’ bodies especially teenagers’ because their bodies are not fully developed.Drugs are the most dangerous thing for teenagers. Fifth, media especially the internet can be another cause. Today’s media especially the commercials on beauty products also has an enormous sociological and psychological affect on adolescent girls. Amongst all, the most important reason why Korean teenagers commit suicide is because of the society problems that Korean students are facing. Especially for Korean teenagers, they always have to remember the relationship with friends, respect adults, the pressure they get from parents to get better score, thinking about universities and relationship with teachers.The rate of teenagers trying to commit suicide is 60% for male students and 44% for female students and the reason why Korean reporters do not publish news on teenagers committing suicide is because it may cause teenagers to think about committing suicide in a more detailed way. (Ahn, S. B. 2010) Introduction The reason why people commit suicide can be stated from a report. The report says ‘to be born is not our choice but to die can be decided. ’ (MamasHealth, 2010) People especially teenagers are in adolescence, a stressful developmental period with lots of changes: changes in body, thoughts and feelings.Therefore their limitation of not coping well with pain and confusion they face, they feel stressed and pressured about it and they think committing suicide is a way to end their sufferings. Also, teenagers considering themselves as victims who cannot get help from others; parents, family and teachers, they tend to decide own their own without consulting with anyone who is even close to them. Through this, we can state that the characteristics of teenagers; limit in solving problems and making errors in their behaviors, people have to be aware of this fact that eenagers feel easy to commit suicide than adults. This means that they do not solve problems logically but they try to solve the problems in a trouble-free and immediate ways that they think it is better. On a webpage offering statistics of cause on teenage death; South Korea’s second leading cause of death for ages from 15 to 24 is from committing suicide. (NIMH, no date published) The reason why I chose this topic is because my country, South Korea is suffering so much from teenagers committing suicide and the reasons are very broad.In addition to this, Korea is facing this problem of not even knowing much why teenagers commit suicide because some teenagers commit suicide without leaving any notes. However the usual reason would be ‘pressure from getting low grades’ that they get from exams and test papers. (Ahn, S. B. , 2010) Since I was once a student in Korean school and could understand the feeling they have towards the crazy situation forcing them to get good grades and force them to go better university than others.I decided to take this as my topic and since the rate of committing suicide increases every year, we now consider it as a sickness and to show this in a quick summary of last two years’ results, it shows the increase on the number of teenagers committing suicide, increased from 137 to 202 teenager s; 47% increased. (Ahn, S. B. , 2010) Why do Korean teenagers try to commit suicide? That has been a question for us not recently but has been great news since few years ago.After IMF (time stage when Korea could not import or export to other countries because of not accepting the unreasonable offer from America) has happened, lots of Korean workers lost their jobs and a lot of business came up with such unsuccessful outcome. Therefore when IMF ended, only developed and stable companies could survive which the entire ‘job lost Koreans’ wanted to get in. The problem has started from this time. Since lots of people were striving to get the jobs in those few survived companies; the companies (which are very famous now) had variety of choices to hire the employees. They first looked at their profiles especially on highest education, the certifications they earned and other things that can prove their abilities and intelligence. Therefore even though the economy came back, ‘job competition’ has stayed between Koreans. Therefore Korean students have to study really hard to get into very successful and recognized universities in Korea so that they can prove how smart they are to companies when getting a job. The stress Korean teenagers have towards studying and getting better grades causes the most possible reason why Korean teenagers try to commit suicide.The causes of teenagers committing suicide vary from unsatisfied grades (34%) to divorce of parents (13%), and depression (11%), relationship with boyfriend / girlfriend (6%), sickness (3%) and bullying (2%). To conduct a deep study on the reasons why Korean teenagers commit suicide, I came up with the question; to what extent social factors especially academic pressure cause Korean teenagers to commit suicide? Causes contributing Korean teenagers commit suicide Suicidal attempt from ages 10-12 happens by accidents or shock from parents’ punishments.From ages 12-14, they commit suicide but cannot succeed because they cannot plan the suicidal attempt clearly and carefully which may lead to success of suicidal attempt. Older than 14 years old, they feel they are quite independent from parents and start to look back on what they have done and grieve over what they have done wrong. This can be related to the research conducted by Baumeister. He concluded suicide as ‘escape of oneself. ’ Baumeister discussed this into detailed process; first, the gap between the reality and expectation. When a person expects more than the reality can hold it, there occurs a crack between them.Second, people usually blame this kind of gap to themselves. Third, people then think any problem that occurs is from them and this makes them to evaluate themselves negative. Fourth, emotional problem occurs and the fifth think about ways to solve this kind of emotional problem which leads to ‘cognitive deconstruction. ’ Cognitive deconstruction happens when emotional function lessen, people denies putting any meaning onto anything and understanding the world as meaningless creature. This state of mind limits a person’s control of emotion which finally leads a person to commit suicide. (Baumeister, R.F. 1990) The most common reasons occur when it comes to teenage suicidal attempts can be categorized into parts; first, it can be about bullying. Teenagers usually tend to reject or isolate a classmate who is different from them; internally and externally. They usually show ‘dislike’ by showing actions and calling bad names to show how much they dislike this person. What usually happens in Korea is when this group of people start to hate one person then if this group is powerful in controlling friends, the classmates would follow the group and whoever gets close to this person will get bullied as well.Therefore even though some students want to help this person, they do not want to because they are afraid to get bullied by this group as well. This person then will feel totally alone and friendless. Relating to this, having high self-esteem means a person trusts himself and thinks he is important in the world. This means this person has pride, courage and is very flexible in adapting sudden situation which cannot be shown from teenagers who have low self-esteem. Teenagers who have low self-esteem always think negative about the results of their effort. They do not expect much from the society and cannot adapt with danger. Self esteem affects 15. 7% of teenagers committing suicide. (Kim, E. J. 2002). Second, depression can be another reason. This is very much related to the first cause but it does not always come from bullying but also from lots of circumstances. This can be about family relationship, friendship, or any other problem that s/he is facing on. For example, Esaki Reona who earned Nobel physics prize wrote an essay about difference between Japan and America.When a student achieves 80% of the goal then in America the parents tell them â€Å"Very good! † but in Japan they say â€Å"Okay. † When a student achieves 60% then in America they say â€Å"Good! † where Japanese say â€Å"Needs improvement. † This simple example clearly shows that Japanese have negative thoughts. Even though this example talks about Japan and America, it is quite similar with Korean situation. When teenagers feel that they cannot solve the problem in any ways or think they do not have any abilities to solve the problems then these are the paths that they usually take when committing suicide.The first one is to escape from difficult situation that they are facing: When they get pressure by their parents or teachers, they feel insecure that they do not have much choice to solve the problem, gets into dilemma. This can be happened through external factors but can also be from internal conflict that they are facing. (Baumeister, R. F. 1990), (Shin, M. S. 1993). Third, diseases and sicknesses can be another reason. When a teenager is in adolescent period, s/he turns emotions quickly and easily gets stressed with a very minimal reason.That’s why when a teenager gets sick or has hard time from suffering some disease then s/he would feel like he does not have to strive hard to live because s/he may think it is useless to live since s/he is sick and may feel like he is suffering so much. On the other hands, they would feel heartbreaking that s/he cannot play with friends like others at his age do. Since serious sickness drags patients to not to go out from the hospital area for years, s/he would feel despondent, may think they cannot take it anymore.Fourth, taking much drugs and alcohol can be another cause. These affect badly on humans’ bodies especially teenagers’ because their bodies are not fully developed. When teenagers drink much alcohol then they may remember about the bad memories that they had kept for long and may lead to some attempts to commit suicide from uncontrollable emotions. Drugs are the most dangerous thing for teenagers. For example, when a person does marijuana and cocaine, they feel really depressed. There was one incidence when two 14 years old girls jumped off from the roof top of the school.They did not leave any note about why they jumped off or anything and the police men have reported that they just committed suicide from being really miserable by sniffing bond (glue which is toxic) 2 hours ago from that attempt. The overtaking of sniffing bond made them to lose control. Their parents of these two girls said that their kids were absolutely ordinary in the house; they even had pleasing friend relationships. This explained that there are no other possible reasons for these girls wanted to commit suicide so over-sniffing bond would be the most suitable reason why girls wanted to commit suicide. (Ryu, S. N. 2009) Fifth, media especially the internet can be another cause. Today’s media especially the commercials on beauty products also has an enormous sociological and psychological affect on adolescent girls. Superficialities in commercials affect teenage girls to feel like they are not beautiful unless they use this commercialized beauty products that they are selling. The problem happens when they wear the make-up in school. These girls would make other girls (who do not put make-up) to feel like a loser because they do not have that product with them. (Kim, H. W. , 2010) Another problem with media is anonymous users’ attack.Nowadays there are many people who have laptops or desktops. As the number of teenagers buying laptops increase, there are many websites that are targeted for teenagers. What they usually do on the web is either they communicate with friends or read some articles. However since people cannot recognize who the actual users are with very limited information online. For instance, there was this case when the girl, Eunji Lee revealed herself in a Korean TV program show to show that she lost 40kg and as part of the program, she took a picture with a guy from a very famous Korean band called super junior.However after that day, many people accused her for showing off to the guy. The fans of the guy even called her ‘slut’ and cursed her to commit suicide as unreasonable comments did not stop, in May 5, 2010, she committed suicide and the reasons was clear; the anonymous netizens (a word that is combined between ‘citizen’ and ‘network’ representing internet users). (Yoon, H. J. 2010) On the other hand, there is a news (Lee, S. B. 010) which is about Korean network ‘clubs on-line’ and teenagers who want to commit suicide can share their ideas about how to die easily, when to die, who to tell and all those helping notes for people who want to commit suicide. For instance the website talks about easy way to commit suicide are through taking potassium cyanide, pesticide, and gasoline. There is also a schedule to meet so that they can commit suicide all together at the same time. The teenagers who are emotionally unstable may look for this kind of websites for fun and may take this easily and think they want to join the group.Amongst all, the most important reason why Korean teenagers commit suicide is because of the society problems that Korean students are facing. Last year, I was given an assignment from my English teacher to write an essay about why do Korean students go abroad to study English. From a lot of research that I have conducted, I have realized that the companies that are in Korea are selling its products abroad nowadays and this illustrates the importance of English that should be learned so that they can communicate well with the buyers.Some brand names such as Samsung, Posco, Kia motors, Hyundai and LG are from Korea and even medium sized companies desire to hire some Koreans who are able to speak English and also some other languages if they can. Therefore before they concern about the candidates’ personalities or abilities, they first judge them with their certifications (qualifications) they have earned or some documents to support their intelligence, make easier for Korean companies to hire the workers faster and more efficient. The companies therefore tend to fire the long-stayed employees who seem dull in underst anding when doing work.Instead of them, the companies prefer to hire some young Korean university graduates who seem more intelligent than those senior workers and the companies think that the younger people can work a lot better than those old workers in terms of; coming up with new ideas, fast in working, having more knowledge. The senior workers; who are parents of the Korean teenagers right now, tend to push their kids to study really hard so that they won’t face the same problems that the parents are facing. However, this gives teenagers more stress.When they get low score not as what parents have expected them to get, teenagers get more pressure about studying and getting good grades to satisfy parents’ want. This is a great problem in Korea nowadays because teenagers do not have any dreams about future and tend to follow the future that parents have chosen for them; doctor, judge, university professor, civil servants or diplomat. This then would lead teenagers to feel like they don’t have any choice; they would just feel like ‘parents’ satisfaction machine’ towards parents because what they want is getting better scores.Especially for Korean teenagers, they always have to remember the relationship with friends, respect adults, the pressure they get from parents to get better score, thinking about universities and relationship with teachers. The schools suppose to give each student a way to know themselves better and make them realize what they are goo d at and help them understand the problems that they face. However with the characteristics of Korean society, students get stress from school until they graduate high school and always have to be aware of their own friends who may beat their scores. They also get stress from parents and teachers from stopping them doing anything they desire to. (Yang, S. Y. 2004). When teenagers get stress, they want to solve the problems by themselves and do not tell this kind of problems to parents or any people around them. This makes them to perceive ‘easy to solve problems’ as problems that are really difficult to solve. (Kim, S. C. 2002). Also these problems cause them to not adapt the relationship with friends and may lead them to go out of the set of rules that parents have set (for example, not missing schools, not going out in the middle of class and etc. This leads teenagers to face family problems which may lead them to have problems when they grow as adults. (Kim H. S. , Kim, H. R. , Park, S. K. 2006). Also teenagers who think they have really low grade make them to worry about their future and lead them to cut the connection between present and future. They feel depression and loneliness. This may lead them to think about committing suicide. Therefore low grades make them to have low self-esteem and give them negative thoughts about the future. (Lee, K. J. 2003). When it comes to study, Korean parents are very strict and make their child to feel really exasperated and gloomy.If we would follow what American parents show positive comments to children then it will make children to feel more victorious. Currently, Korean teenagers may feel like they cannot do anything because it is hard for them to satisfy their parents. This will make them lose their confidence, feel like they are losers. This usually happens to families like parents expecting a lot from their kids and think it is the best way to encourage their kids by comparing them to other students who are better than them by saying â€Å"My friend’s son always get over 90% of grade but what is wrong with you? which can dissatisfy the teenagers and make them feel depressed and helpless. To show that they have tried hard enough to reach the goal or revenge their parents through committing suicide, they choose to make suicidal attempts. They have this thought ‘Get hurt from me dying. ’ This usually happens to teenagers having family or school problems. Punish himself about what they have done wrong; someone who has high set of goals to accomplish or high aims, when they feel that they have not achieved it or have not tried hard enough to achieve it, they get depressed by self-destruction and low self-confidence.Just to punish them, they leave notes such as â€Å"Please forgive me such a daughter like me† or â€Å"Please blame me for everything. † Since the teenagers in our country face a big problems dealing with universities exams, someone who especially have strict parents, someone who has low self-esteem, has been suffered from depression or any sickness can cause them to think about committing suicide. Our country’s teenagers have serious stress from the schools plus the external pressures on their grades.A society which is ‘university centered’ like Korea make teenagers especially who have low grade to feel they are losers and may think that they cannot be successful in the future, they may just give up everything and lead them to have alcohol, drugs and leaving house without informing parents. If this gets worse then they may be confused with their self identity which would lead them to commit suicide (Hwang, Y. S. 2003). The reason why the rate of teenage suicide increases is because the society expects a lot from teenagers to do better. Someone who tries but cannot reach the goal that people have set for him/her then this teenager may feel that they cannot do anything and this may lead them to feel they are insecure and unstable. (Nam J. Y. 1998). Another reason why teenagers commit suicide is about family troubles; a serious problem that Korea is facing nowadays; the rate of divorce. Recently, it has been reported (Seoul news) that the rate of divorce is up to approximately 50%. Unlike some open-culture countries such as America or some European countries, Korea is a quite conservative country. Accepting the fact that their family is broken would give some ideas that their parents do not love each other and would lead teenagers to think carefully where to move in the house which supposed to be the safest and protected area in the world. Another reason would be the relationship between the teenagers and their parents; this may cause the thought of committing suicide from parents pushing teenagers too much on something- not communicating each other would give some ideas to teenagers that they do not have anyone to lean on.Another reason would be economy in the family. Relate to the issue about Korean companies tend to hire more intelligent and highly educated people; it is also very common that parents are getting divorced. This would make teenagers to show a silent disobedience which would be leaving the house and look for job and live independently. When they leave the house, looking for the job, they are called as ‘endangered teenager’; means to say that they have no place to go, no money to buy some food and clothes.The society does offer some centers such as ‘restart center’ and ‘do dream zone’ to teach them further education; more on practical stuff such as hairdressing and cooking. However when the education is over, they have to leave the center. The reason why it is important to know this is that when they graduate the center with the title of ‘endangered teenager,’ not many companies accept these students as workers. Therefore teenagers who need money to support their family have to find easier and more attractive ways of earning money, offering their bodies.About 40,000 teenagers are in these centers recently and 40% of them do go their ways on this dangerous path. (Seoul Newspaper, 2010) This situation makes teenagers to be fuming and mad and become depressed, make them to consider about ending painful and dirty life; committing suicide. The stereotype that people have towards these teenagers makes teenagers harder to think about society in positive ways. Conclusion Back to the research question stated; to what extent social factors especially academic pressure cause Korean teenagers to commit suicide?I think they affect on teenage suicidal a ttempts much especially the academic pressure they get from parents and schools. Committing suicide comes from the unstable mind state and therefore many factors can lead teenagers to commit suicide. However any of these can cause teenagers to feel depressed and melancholy and lead them to commit suicide. From researching I found lots of information why teenagers want to commit suicide.These information were about; information about how students feel depressed and how they express it, how drugs and alcohol affects on teenagers to make them feel like they want to commit suicide, the effect of bullying and how serious it is to make someone to commit suicide, how teachers, parents, friends and other people can help with these teenagers and how media effect on suicidal attempts. How to cite Teenage Suicide, Papers Teenage Suicide Free Essays On average, one suicide occurs every 17 minutes and is the 3rd leading cause of death among Americans aged 15-24. The big stereotype among teens is being â€Å"Emo† and†Scene†. This stereotype includes heavy metal rock music, poufy hair, dark clothes and make-up, and even self-mutilation and suicidal thoughts and actions. We will write a custom essay sample on Teenage Suicide or any similar topic only for you Order Now Teen suicide is becoming a trend through stereotypes and we should take immediate action to prevent it. 1. 3% of all deaths are suicide, many of those are teens. Everyday, six teens commit suicide. Teen suicide is nearly 4 times more common today than it was three decades ago. † Says Doctor Janet Grossman, a suicide expert. Five to ten percent of teens at any one time suffer from depression and if not properly treated, is detrimental and can lead to suicide in 15% of those teens. Children and teens are the future of our world and no one should feel so terrible about life and that there is no other option but death, that they would kill themselves. Many times after a suicide occurs, another occurs within close proximity to the first. Suicide not only has effect on the person, but the ones around him or her as well. They tend to feel guilty and helpless, as if it were all their fault, and they too feel depressed and suicidal; Soon enough they kill themselves. When two teens decide to bring their lives to a tragic end together, the question why is twice as hard to answer. This is what happened with 14 year old Christian Davila and 13 year old Maryling Flores. They were 2 love-struck 8th graders that â€Å"Couldn’t live without each other† as stated in their suicide notes. Maryling’s parents told her that she was too young to date Christian, and her and Christian defied them. They walked into the ocean together to drown. This devastating loss left friends, family, and strangers mourning for them, asking the question why. It’s a vicious cycle that needs to be stopped. Others argue that it is the persons right to live or die, that teens are way to over dramatic, and that we will soon get over it. They believe this because teens hormones are raging and we feel like we need to establish ndependence; but if this feeling of wanting to die were just drama and craving attention, teens would not be taking action on these feelings as well as six teens killing themselves on a daily basis. Suicide would not be the 5th leading cause of death for 5 to 14 year olds and it would not occur every two hours and 12 minutes for 15 to 24 year olds. Imagine what our world would be if Emo and Scene stereotypes were no longer only stereotypes, but the face and fu ture of our world. Break out of that stereotype and think for your self. What do you want for your LIFE, not your DEATH? How to cite Teenage Suicide, Papers Teenage Suicide Free Essays string(94) " has resulted in young adults feeling they are a part of an unstable and unpredictable world\." Maddie O’Hara Mrs. Ponikvar Death in Literature, Period 5 3/27/12 Teenage Wasteland May 5, 2009, a 17 year-old male from Gunn High School jumps in front of the train during the morning commute. June 2, 2009, a 17 year-old girl from the same High School commits suicide. We will write a custom essay sample on Teenage Suicide or any similar topic only for you Order Now August 21, 2009, a 13 year-old just beginning her freshman year also takes her life. October 21, 2009, a 16 year-old Gunn student takes his life. Fall of 2011, a student from St Ignatius High School in San Francisco took his life. Why is there a sudden increase in teenage suicides? At first glance, most people assume that in the affluent Bay Area where teenagers seem to have all they need and more, teenage suicide would not be an issue worth exploring. But lurking beneath the surface is an ugly and troubling trend where teenagers are taking their lives at an alarming rate. Suicides amongst teenagers have certainly been occurring for as long as they have been keeping statistics, but in the last 3 years the Bay Area has seen teenage suicides rising at an unprecedented rate. So what is to blame for teenagers feeling that they have no hope or alternatives other than suicide? Research points to the fact that teenagers are growing up in a far different world than even kids from a decade ago. Teenagers today are facing numerous environmental, social, and financial obstacles that are pushing them to make the unthinkable choice of taking their own lives. The overall environment that teenagers are growing up in today has changed dramatically in recent years. One change that has occurred is in respect to the overall acceptance of one’s sexual orientation. Most High Schools today have either informal or formal support groups for gay teenagers. Every T. V show aimed at the teenage audience either has gay characters or plots that freely discuss the conflicts that come from being gay. These factors are giving gay teenagers an outlet to feel comfortable to express their sexual orientation and â€Å"come out of the closet†. I have a neighbor in her 30’s who is gay and she told me that she didn’t â€Å"come out of the closet† until early 20’s because there were no support groups or forum that she felt would have supported her. She went on to explain to me that while she is happy that gay teenagers today have more acceptance level than he did, but also has some concerns. â€Å"While there are many people who are accepting of the gay community, there are just as many that don’t and it takes a high level of maturity in order to handle these conflicts and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have handled them very well as a teenager†. Hatzenbuehler conducted a study, reviewing different st atistics on suicides comparing the differences between heterosexuals and homosexuals. â€Å"The study found that lesbian/gay/bisexual youth were five times more likely to have attempted suicide in the last 12 months than heterosexual youth. Nearly 20% of the lesbian and gay youth had attempted suicide, as had 22% of bisexual youth, compared to only four percent of their heterosexual peers† (Hatzenbuehler). So the environment teenagers are growing up in today seems to support the gay community and encourages our teenagers to be themselves and true to their sexual orientation. But on the other hand, studies point to the gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth not being fully able to handle the conflicts that arise and resort to suicide. A good example of this mixed message our gay teenagers face in our own state. California is known for being liberal and accepting of gays. But look at the controversy of Proposition 8 which is trying to make gay marriage legal but can’t get passed in California. On the surface, it looks like California is the ideal environment, but if our own State will not accept the gay community, then what message does this send a 14 year old who has openly expressed his or her sexual orientation. â€Å"Strategic analysis of the student information and the environmental index led Hatzenbuehler to conclude that lesbian/gay/bisexual youths’ risk of attempting suicide greatly increased in a negative environment. They were 20% more likely to have attempted suicide in a negative social environment than in a positive one† (Hatzenbuehler). Ideally, we would hope that a gay teenager would grow up in a positive social environment but even if their family and high school is progressive enough to provide this, there are far too many other negative influences that he or she will encounter. Another environmental factor that plays into the teenager’s minds is the media’s unstable and confusing message about the world teenagers live in and see. The media plays a pivotal role in the viewpoint and even the actions of teenagers today but the message they are hearing is confusing and at times undermines parents. â€Å"Youngsters are being inundated with encouragement to do negative things and even take their own lives – in their music, books, and movies†¦Let’s hear no more of wondering why the suicide rate has skyrocketed. The answer is clearly that it is being encouraged† (Lagone 68). Today, it is almost impossible to turn on the TV to a popular teenage show and see good role models. When the character has family problems, one rarely sees them approach a trusted adult or consult with a therapist. In a few episodes I have seen, it ends showing the character hanging him or her in classroom at school. Additionally, the media does not show other solutions that teenagers can take to deal with problems. Actors, characters in books, and especially song lyrics suggest that suicide is the only way to deal with problems. Also, the media is responsible for the coverage and wide exposure of the post 9/11 era. Teenagers today have grown up their whole lives witnessing more terrorist activity and coverage of war than perhaps any teenager group in history. This media exposure has resulted in young adults feeling they are a part of an unstable and unpredictable world. You read "Teenage Suicide" in category "Essay examples" For example, â€Å"Dr. Ian Cook, an associate professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA’s David Geffen school of medicine, who was not involved in the study, said stresses of modern life, particularly worries in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, might have a role† (Gellene). While it is too soon to be absolutely certain there is a connection of the post 9/11 teenager and a spike in teenage suicides, one can see that the media’s coverage of a unpredictable and chaotic world is sending confusing messages to teenagers and perhaps guiding them to suicide as their solution. Another environmental factor facing teens today is the increased usage and acceptance of prescription drugs. When one imagines someone abusing drugs, marijuana or cocaine initially comes to mind. However, the newest form of drug abuse comes from those that are prescribed by doctors and 100% legal. Prescription drugs are very prevalent in society today and very easy for teens to get from their doctors. However, these â€Å"legal drugs† are now being held responsible for either assisting or causing teens to commit suicide. Denise Gellene comments, â€Å"One possibility is that the increase in suicides might be tied to a concurrent increase in abuse of prescription pain pills, such as Oxycontin. Studies have shown that people who abuse prescription drugs are at greater risk for suicide† (Gellene). Many of the prescription pills alter the way your brain functions, causing depression, which is a leading cause f suicide. Prescription drugs mixed with alcohol become even more lethal. Alcohol has always been very common in the daily lives of teenagers these days. The adolescent brain is not fully developed; therefore, many teens often become dependent on alcohol. Alcoholism is another leading cause of depression, which often leads to suicide. Firearms are another contrib uting influence to suicide. â€Å"Because firearms are used in more than half of teen suicides, it is important to realize that easy access to a firearm and ammunition can contribute to a teenage death by suicide† (Teen Suicide). Parents leave their gun around the house like there is no importance. Weapons are becoming more accessible to teenagers because of the lackadaisical attitude parents have towards these firearms. The accessibility and convenience that teenagers have on retrieving prescription drugs, alcohol, and firearms significantly impact whether or not a teen would commit suicide. Just as teenagers today are the first post 9/11 group, they are also the first decade of â€Å"Facebook† teenagers that are growing up in a far different social world than ever before. As discussed earlier, gay teenagers are facing obstacles today that they are not equipped to handle, and the same holds true for teenagers that have access to the internet. Social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Formspring allow teens to say what they think over an online chat or even anonymously. This enables teens to escape the face-to-face confrontations and degrade others via the web, and even pretend to be someone they are not. Unfortunately this happened to a girl named Megan. Megan Meier was a 13 year old from Missouri who struck up an online friendship on the popular social networking site MySpace with a person she believed was a new boy in her hometown. In reality, the â€Å"friend† was a group of individuals, including adults, who were intent on humiliating the poor girl because of a friendship with another child that had gone awry. Megan was very upset when she found out the truth, then later committed suicide once the friendship had terminated. The horrifying case stunned the community and caused state government officials to pass some of the harshest cyber bullying laws in the country† (Rubin). This situation has happened to numerous teenagers all over America. The rapid paced technology has its benefits, but there are substantial problems, as well, such as cyber bullying. Teenagers have found many different ways to abuse the technology offered. One common mistake made by teens are sending revealing photos of themselves through text messaging. This is commonly known as â€Å"sexting†. Stephanie Sajor covers the horrifying story of how Hope Witsell was a victim of bullying because of her choice to send risque pictures. Sajor reported, â€Å"Hope Witsell was 13 years old when she committed suicide in September of 2009. She was a target of severe bullying at school, CNN reports, ‘Witsell took part in ‘sexting’ by sending a picture of her breasts to a boyfriend. This picture went viral and she was humiliated. Her friend mentioned, ‘We had to make like a wall, we had people surrounding her, and she had to be in the middle because people would come by and try to hit her and push her into a locker or something’† (Sajor). Numerous teens, like Witsell, are so horrified with the consequences of their mistake and feel suicide is the only answer. Adding to the new social world teens are growing up in is the growing lack of communication between teenagers and their parents. With issues facing teens today that have never been explored, parents have no experience and do not know how to approach many of these issues or even how to cope with it themselves. Experience definitely helps in parenting, but today parents have little or no experience on how to deal with Facebook or prescription drugs or gay children because many of these issues either did not exist or were not as prevalent when they were teenagers themselves. In an article in the Mayo News, Anton McNulty states, â€Å"The Coroner explained that in the majority of teenage-suicide cases, the parents had no idea their child had any problems, and she urged parents to communicate more with their children. Dr. Fitzgerald said that in many cases, teenagers find it difficult to deal with rejection and think the only way out is it end their life† (McNulty). Because parents have never dealt with these different forms of bullying because of the new technology, it is hard for them to sympathize with their teens. The simple solution is communication. Teens need to talk to their parents about how they feel and what is going on in their lives. Another factor adding to the surge of teenagers committing suicide is the increasing parental pressure to succeed in the classroom. Teenagers are at home listening to parents having to figure out how they are going to pay for college. Teenagers are feeling the same pressures as their parents when it comes to dealing with tough financial obstacles that exist with most families today. Because of the major shift in our economy, teens are directly impacted by the stresses of heir parents’ financial situation whereas â€Å"parents, too, may be at fault, although unintentionally. Under stress themselves, perhaps because of divorce or unemployment, they often find themselves unable to help troubled children. They may be unaware or even embarrassed that their children are considering suicide. Perhaps they simply do not know where to get help† (Langone 54). Several parents are so preoccu pied with finding a new job or dealing with divorce papers and attorneys that their teen’s problems become second priority. These teens do not know who to turn to any more and resort to suicide. When parents are hit hard by the economy, many times they burden their children with the pressures of excelling in school. Mothers and fathers are expecting their children to receive scholarships for college thus, live in a prosperous financial standing when they are adults, as well. The stresses teenagers endure today are incomprehensible for parents. Teens undergo trouble with boyfriends, dealing with teachers, worrying about college, and pleasing parents, just to list a few. John Langone analyzes these changes as he agrees, â€Å"It is true that students have always been stressed; stress is to be expected from any endeavor that makes demands, sets deadlines, and establishes a goal that requires work to reach. Yesterday, many students concentrated on learning for its own sake; today, the emphasis is on specialization, quite often for positions in high-tech industry, a business that is fiercely competitive and full of glamorous tales of bright young electronics wizards who are millionaires before they reach the age of thirty† (58). The constant stresses of this idealistic future of becoming the successful CEO burden our teenagers with the worries and pressures with an unrealistic vision. The tough economic conditions of today weigh on teenagers and puts added pressure on them to excel in school like never before. This has resulted in GPA’s increasing so fast that even a perfect 4. 0 Grade Point Average has become the norm and in no way guarantees a teenager acceptance into a prestigious university or an academic scholarship. To use a cliche, times have changed and the stresses of the past were easier, for the most part, to deal with† (Langone 58). When looking at the environmental changes as well as the social and financial factors that effect teenagers today, it certainly explains why suicide among teenagers is on the rise. We are in a period of time that has never been experienced and therefore it is difficult to pinpoint an answer on how to put an end or at least slow down this trend. One answer that can help is to go back to the fundamental idea of better communication. Peers need to communicate with each other better. Parents and teachers need to communicate more effectively about their children. Children need to communicate with their parents and draw from their knowledge. The media needs to communicate positive stories and not just report the negative aspects of our world. Pharmaceutical companies need to communicate the side effects of their products. Social networking sites need to better monitor their content. This is a simple solution to a very complex problem, but it is a start. Works Cited Gellene, Denise. Suicide Rate in U. S. is up. † Los Angeles Times 21 Oct. 2008: n. pag. Los Angeles Times. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. http://articles. latimes. com/? 2008/? oct/? 21/? science/? sci-suicide21. Hatzenbuehler, Mark L. â€Å"Social Environment Affects Likelihood that LGB Youth Will Attempt Suicide, Health Society Scholar Finds Social Environment Affects Likelihood that LGB Youth Will Attempt Suicide, Health Society Scholar Finds Social Envir onment Affects Likelihood that LGB Youth Will Attempt Suicide. † Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. N. p. , 18 Apr. 011. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. http://www. rwjfleaders. org/? news/? social-environment-affects-likelihood-lesbian-gay-and-bisexual-youth-will-attempt-suicide. Howarth, Glennys, and Oliver Leaman. Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. London: Routledge, 2001. Print. La Ganga, Maria L. â€Å"Palo Alto campus searches for healing after suicides. † Los Angeles Times 30 Oct. 2009: n. pag. Los Angeles Times. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. http://articles. latimes. com/? 2009/? oct/? 30/? local/? me-student-suicides30. Langone, John. Dead End: A Book about Suicide. Boston: Little, Brown, 1986. Questia Online Library. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. http://www. questiaschool. com/? PM. qst? a=od=96294111. Maugh II, Thomas H. , and Jia-Rui Chong. â€Å"Suicide rates for U. S. youths, especially young girls, climb. † Los Angeles Times 7 Sept. 2007: n. pag. Los Angeles Times. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. http://articles. latimes. com/? 2007/? sep/? 07/? science/? sci-suicide7. McNulty, Anton. â€Å"Coroner concerned about rapid rise in teenage suicides. † Mayo News. N. p. , 8 Nov. 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. http://www. mayonews. ie/? index. php? ption=com_contentview=articleid=14051:coroner-concerned-about-rapid-rise-in-teenage-suicidescatid=23:newsItemid=46. Rubin, Joel, and Sandra Murillo. â€Å"Teen Suicide and Feelings of Failure. † Los Angeles Times 1 Jan. 2005: n. pag. Los Angeles Times. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. http://articles. latimes. com/? 2005/? jan/? 01/? local/? me-teensuicide1. Sajor, Stephanie. â€Å"Hope Witsell: A Story of Sexting and Bully ing. † ThirdAge. com. CNN, 7 Oct. 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. http://www. thirdage. com/? news/? hope-witsell-story-sexting-and-bullying_10-7-2010. Teen Suicide. † Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. Ohio State University, 13 Apr. 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. http://medicalcenter. osu. edu/? patientcare/? healthcare_services/? mental_health/? mental_health_about/? children/? suicide/? Pages/? index. aspx. Thompson, Carolyn. â€Å"Cops: No charges in suicide of bullied NY gay teen Cops: No charges in suicide of bullied NY gay teen Cops: No charges in suicide of bullied NY gay teen. † Mercury News 22 Nov. 2011: n. pag. Silicon Valley Mercury News. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. http://www. mercurynews. com/? news/? ci_19391620. How to cite Teenage Suicide, Essay examples

Industry Project for Sole Trading Company -myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theIndustry Project for Sole Trading Company. Answer: Introduction The purpose of preparing the reflective journal is to identify the structure of the organization, determine the skills and experiences that have been achieved by me during the critical learning phase. I have chosen the sole trading company, because it is much easier to determine how the company manages its human resources and how work has been organized within the organization. The company that has been chosen here as the case study is Simply Indian Restaurant in New Zealand (Simplyindian.co.nz, 2017). Host organization/ Industry Client The Simply Indian restaurant offers great quality fish curry, lamb corma and other Indian snacks and sweet items that can fulfill the tastes and preferences of customers easily. One of the major issues that was faced by the restaurant was lack of management and control of costs of operations and processes. This deteriorated the profit level of the company largely too. The company has a sole trading structure and because of this, it has been easy to set up and the starts up costs were quite low as well (Arends, 2014). The business processes are controlled with much ease and the profit is not shared with anyone. The organization is located at 225 High Street, Lower Hutt central 5010, Wellington in New Zealand. The company has 50 -60 staffs in total who have been employed within the organization and provides fine dining experience to the customers. The work is managed within the organization by keeping the workers motivated and encouraged to deliver high quality dining experience through providing good quality food and discreet services. It also hosts private and corporate parties and events to attract more customers and enhance the profit level too (Howarth Fredericks, 2012). Situation reflection Introduction I have managed to obtain a lot of skills and experiences based on critical learning about how to handle the customers and ensure that good quality and proper services are delivered to them for keeping them satisfied. I have been interacting with the customers at the cooperative education organization for determining who have been unsatisfied with the kinds of services and products delivered by the Simply Indian restaurant in New Zealand. Few of the customers have dietary issues like allergies for certain food items or ingredients used to prepare the dish. One such customer expressed concern and sense of dissatisfaction with the quality of food items by showing aggressive behaviors towards the hotel staffs (Kirkwood Price, 2014). There was also a situation when a group of customers entered the restaurant just few minutes before its closure and ordered the food items available in the menu that might take the longest time for preparation. I have obtained relevant knowledge and skills t o connect with the customers and make sure that they are handled responsibly to create positive brand name and image. Collaboration of employees and by combining charm, psychology, communication skills and impartial mediation can help in delivering the best quality services and even motivate the employees to perform to their potential. One of the challenges with the organizational culture was the inability to involve all the team members and make people informed about its culture (Kolb , 2014). First critical learning experience From my educational experience at the cooperative education organisation, I have learned to maintain consistency while managing a good organizational culture. It is not only essential for promoting good communication, but will also enhance my personal skills to handle the customers properly. The messages delivered to the customers at the restaurant must be clear, precise and consistent for making people know what are being sold and can keep them satisfied. I need to create a good culture that can allow the staffs to communicate with each other and work as a team for delivering the best quality services to people (Nosich, 2012). Second critical learning experience I have gathered experiences to enhance the brand image and for a new Indian restaurant that has been established in New Zealand, it is important to improve the brand image and identity. From my experiences, I have learned that social media is an essential aspect to create successful business nowadays. The involvement of social networking websites can grab attention of customers and generate good traffic, furthermore create brand awareness among the people (Schn, 2015). Third critical learning experience My third learning experience was based on the utilization of resources and inventories to increase the level of profit for Simply Indian restaurant in New Zealand. It is always important to manage the needs of suppliers and conduct a food and beverage inventory to ensure that all the resources are available properly and good quality food items are prepared to keep customers satisfied and maximize the level of profit. I have also obtained relevant leadership skills to organize the staffs by considering the views and opinions of the workers and make strategic decisions aligned with the organizational goals and objectives (Simplyindian.co.nz, 2017). Personal growth While being a part of the cooperative education organization, I have obtained necessary skills related to the various aspects of leadership, critical thinking and ability to handle challenging situations and customers who can create issues for the organization. These skills have improved my knowledge and experience to progress in my career and become successful in my personal and professional life too. Reflections on feedback from academic supervisor By obtaining the responses and feedbacks of the supervisor, I have understood how my performance has been at the present and how it will help in progressing in the career with ease. The verbal and written feedbacks have further helped in analyzing the various areas of weaknesses like an issue faced while doing the referencing in APA style (Tracey Baaki, 2014). I searched for the literature review section and obtained relevant knowledge and skills to do the in texting and referencing by putting commas and initials in the right place too. Correct referencing would help in finding related information by searching with the author name and obtain important data and information regarding the same. Future Career Direction and Preparation for future My experiences within the cooperative education organization have helped me to progress in my career and even determine my roles and responsibilities easily. I was not satisfied with the kinds of customers services while working as a Sales and marketing manager. This is why, I focused more on conducting market research to manage various surveys and ensure collection and analysis of data to determine the market conditions. This would also help me to analyse the current market scenario in New Zealand and deliver products according to their needs and requirements at Simply Indian (Arends, 2014). I require additional training to strengthen my skills in the field of marketing research, because my statistical knowledge is poor and it needs proper information to work on the statistics course and furthermore improve my ability to analyze data with ease. This would fulfill my personal development requirements and allow me to progress in my future career efficienctly (Howarth Fredericks, 2012). Work Ready Curriculum Vitae Name: . Address: Contact: Career objectives To perform to my potential by undertaking initiatives, remain creative and dynamic in job. Special skills Leadership skills, management skills, operations skills Professional experience Name of organization: New Zealand Association for Cooperative Education Duration of work: November 2014 to present Position: Studied about workplace integrated learning and studying various leadership and management skills to handle situations at Simply Indian. The skills that I have obtained will help me to achieve the requirements for progressing in my career and work as an efficient leader at Simply Indian for delivering the best quality services to customers. References Arends, R. (2014). Learning to teach. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Howarth, R., Fredericks, J. (2012). Sustainable SME practice: A reflection on supply-chain environmental management intervention. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 23(6), 673-685. Kirkwood, A., Price, L. (2014). Technology-enhanced learning and teaching in higher education: what is enhancedand how do we know? A critical literature review. Learning, media and technology, 39(1), 6-36. Kolb, D. A. (2014). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. FT press. Nosich, G. M. (2012). Learning to think things through: A guide to critical thinking across the curriculum. Schn, D. W. (2015). Teaching artistry through reflection-in-action. Simplyindian.co.nz. (2017). Simplyindian.co.nz. Retrieved 11 October 2017, from https://www.simplyindian.co.nz/ Tracey, M. W., Baaki, J. (2014). Design, designers, and reflection-in-action. In Design in educational technology (pp. 1-13). Springer International Publishing.