Is Bullying Connected to Suicides?

                   

In this day in age is school bullying connecting to the rise in suicides? Out of a lot of articles I’ve read, a lot talk about how being bullied wasn’t the primary factor in youth suicides. It is present that bullying is still noted as a factor in suicides. There are a lot studies on the issue of bullying being associated with suicides. In some studies it shows that the child being bullied had depression issues and that being bullied was a small factor in the suicide or suicide attempted. While in the other studies it’s shown that being bullied was the primary factor in the suicide or suicide attempt. In the one study that I looked into had results with the bullied victim showing high suicidal thoughts or behaviors (Klomek, 2010). It was also pointed out in the studies that this was true for grades elementary on up through high school. The result was that school bullying is a “significant risk factors” for suicidal thoughts and behaviors in young children and teens, and was deemed “independent of other suicide risk factors, such as depression” (Klomek, 2010).

            If bullying isn’t a primary factor for youth suicides, then why has there been a lot of bully associated suicides and attempted suicides reported in the media (Klomek, 2010)? Millions of youth are affected yearly by suicidal behaviors. Most of which are associated with bullying or depression. The studies in the few articles I read have end results that show that bullying is a big factor in youth suicides. Every time I hear of a youth suicide, bullying was listed as a possibly reason of the action.

Do we as grown-ups really know what’s going on with kids now a day? When I was bullied in school I do remember being depressed, but I never recalled wanting to commit suicide. But as the world changes so do the ways of bullying. Cyber bullying in worse cases have led to youth suicides being that the bully can harass a child 24hours a day 7 days a week if they want to (Klomek, 2010).

Even if most articles say that bullying isn’t a primary factor in youth suicides it still has a long term effect on a child that can follow them into adulthood, in which could later lead to suicide down the road. From all the information and what I’ve seen on the news, I do believe that bullying is a big factor in youth suicides even if it’s not the primary one. Not to mention with the yearly increase of both bullying and youth suicide, it’s just hard not to see the connection.  

Klomek, A. (2010). The Association of suicide and bullying in childhood to young adulthood: A review of cross-sectional and longitudinal research findings. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Retrieved April 21, 2011, from the Academic Search Complete Database.