More Thai Youths Attempting Suicide

[WaiWai]

Survey: More youths attempt suicide

An increasing number of youths have attempted suicides and more students have admitted having sexual affairs, according to a Child Watch survey.

"Of 100,000 youths or people aged under 25 years old, 33.98 have tried to kill themselves," Amornwich Nakornthap said Wednesday as the head of the Child Watch project. He was speaking based on information collected between 2005 and 2006.

This figure meant 21 youths made an attempt on their lives a day last year. In 2005, only 29.73 of 100,000 youths attempted suicides.

"When we questioned secondaryschool and university students, up to 19 per cent said they have had sex in 2006 up from 16 per cent a year earlier," Amornwich said.

According to him, more sexually active students were also reflected in the findings the number of teenagers younger than 19 years old delivering babies rose to 71,000 last year up from 52,000 in 2005.

The Nation

It's a rather sketchy report but the Child Watch figures do appear to show a trend*. One cause might be pressure from the current economic climate. Another might be rapid transition in some areas of Thailand. What do you think ?

Also, there appears to be a significant rise in the number of teenage mothers. Changing values combined with inadequate sex ed ?

What's going on with young people in Thailand these days, in all its diverse social sectors and localities ?

Interested in your thoughts and reports from around Thailand.

(* presumably the figures are drawn from around Thailand, though it's not stated)

Edited December 6, 2007 by WaiWai

[Dakhar]

Mopeds are getting to expensive for the average Thai teenager. So rather than being un-cool and never having the ability to atract a girl, they feel that death is the best alternative.

[HS Mauberley]

That is interesting. I had a look at statistics for Britain, which for young men were 22 per 100,000. Wikipedia says:

"National suicide rates sometimes tend to be stable. For example, the 1975 rates for Australia, Denmark, England, France, Norway, and Switzerland, were within 3.0 per 100,000 of population from the 1875 rates. The rates in 1910–14 and in 1960 differed less than 2.5 per 100,000 of the population in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, England and Wales, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

There are considerable differences between national suicide rates. Findings from two studies showed a range from 0 to more than 40 suicides per 100,000 of population.

National suicide rates, apparently universally, show a long-term upward trend. This trend has been well-documented in European countries. The trend for national suicide rates to rise slowly over time might be an indirect result of the gradual reduction in deaths from other causes, i.e. falling death rates from causes other than suicide uncover a previously hidden predisposition towards suicide.There may also be an explanation in the reduced stigma attached to survivors as suicide is no longer a crime or a sin. This may allow coroners to record more suicides as such and so increase stats.

Ethnic groups and suicide: In the USA, Asian-Americans are more likely to die by suicide than any other ethnic group. Caucasians die by suicide more often than African Americans do. This is true for both genders. Non-Hispanic Caucasians are nearly 2.5 times more likely to kill themselves than are African Americans or Hispanics"

So it seems that Thailand isn't alone in experiencing rising rates but they are the higher end of the scale. I would have expected Thailand to have fairly low rates, as least as far as reporting went (sadly, mental illness is a cause for shame so reported rates are often lower than reality) but, on the other hand, the ever-spreading consumerism can only really lead to increased rates of the kinds of unhappiness and dissatisfaction which feed into depression.

[Jingthing]

In the USA, Asian-Americans are more likely to die by suicide than any other ethnic group.

This is true and isn't the cultural reason the higher academic achievement expectations of Asian families in the US? So many kids think getting a grade B in a class is the end of their life. Kids everywhere often have poor perspective about the big picture. Things that to us as adults are nothing and just wash off our backs can be so overblown for young people.

Edited December 6, 2007 by Jingthing

[HS Mauberley]

^ Is it? If so, that's dreadful. My first thought was that it was because it's not culturally acceptable to admit to mental health problems so intervention prior to suicide is less common than, for example, among white Britons but then it's only fairly recently that, anywhere in the world, mental illness has become at all socially acceptable so if my first thought were right, you would expect there to have been a significant drop in suicide rates in the States or Europe but, in fact, that's not happened. Also, I'm not at all sure that I'm not making completely unfounded assumptions about various Asian cultures; ones about which I have no specialist knowledge.

[WaiWai]

Thanks for the comments.

So it seems that Thailand isn't alone in experiencing rising rates but they are the higher end of the scale. I would have expected Thailand to have fairly low rates, as least as far as reporting went (sadly, mental illness is a cause for shame so reported rates are often lower than reality) but, on the other hand, the ever-spreading consumerism can only really lead to increased rates of the kinds of unhappiness and dissatisfaction which feed into depression.

I agree that "consumerism" and all that entails must be a factor. Many of us understand this intuitively.

Re Asian kids : yes, sadly the pressure from family - in a context of little balance, communication, understanding - is so intense that "failure" will drive a child to suicide.

The suicide is also often not regarded as a "respectful" act by parents (or even teachers).

I suppose the attitudes might continue with even more intensity in other countries where 1st generation kids (and parents) feel very isolated and driven to have their children succeed economically.

I was unsurprised to learn about the "long-term upward trend" but I am still wondering about what is particular to Thailand ?

It would be very interesting to see the male-female ratio.

Are the teen pregnancies connected in some way ?

I'd really like to hear general observations as well as particular examples from everyone's experience here.

P.S. Yes, in many Asian countries there's little understanding of mental (or physical) illness/disability. Schools do not have counsellors, on the whole. If they do, it's in a very limited capacity as the children will not visit because of the "shame" that would be visited on the family.

Edited December 6, 2007 by WaiWai

[WaiWai]

Seems Chiang Mai province is the worst.

Suicide can be prevented, if people in society care, said Dr Apichai Mongkol, deputy chief of the Mental Health Department, yesterday. The department, together with the Samaritans of Thailand, will launch a campaign marking World Suicide Prevention Day today to promote public awareness and understanding.

This is the first time Thailand has joined the world community in acknowledging the importance of the problem. The venue is Chiang Mai since the northern province has the country's highest suicide rate.

Thailand has done quite well in tackling the problem. The national suicide rate has dropped from 7.3 per 100,000 people in 2003 to 6.9 in 2004, compared to the world's average of 16, Dr Apichai said.

``But looking at the regional level, we realise more still needs to be done. In the upper North alone, the suicide rate is as high as 20 per 100,000,'' he said.

Chiang Mai University is conducting a research study to identify major causes of suicide. Statistics from the Samaritans of Thailand show that a number of suicide cases in the North were associated with alcohol and drug use.

The real situation could be a lot more worrying. Dr Apichai said the number of attempted suicide cases recorded at public hospitals was 10 times more than that of successful ones. There were also unreported cases, believed to exist in large numbers.

[slackula]

[quote name='WaiWai' date='2007-12-06 12:41:59' post='1690604'

One cause might be pressure from the current economic climate. Another might be rapid transition in some areas of Thailand. What do you think ?

Perhaps they are logging to ThaiVisa.com and being driven to suicide through the sheer inanity of the vast majority of crap here?

[AlexLah]

I tried to start a topic like this but it was quickly closed by the Mods.

Good luck!

Alex

[WaiWai]

I might be wrong but isn't suicide one of the plethora of verboten subjects on this 'discussion' forum?

Oh ?

Perhaps a moderator can let us know.

[farang prince]

Let me know when the Thais themselves start to give a dam_n about suicide rates. Let's face it, things could be worse, especially if the Thai kids were adopted by neurotic British parents and raised in the United States. They would stand no chance.

[Jingthing]

I am pretty sure we can talk about suicide to our heart's delight here.

Otherwise, we would never see the jumper stories.

I think the line might be drawn if you start going into details about suggested methods.

Edited December 8, 2007 by Jingthing

[WaiWai]

I am pretty sure we can talk about suicide to our heart's delight here.

Otherwise, we would never see the jumper stories.

I think the line might be drawn if you start going into details about suggested methods.

Ah, yes. That is a standard taboo. (Though jumping is a method.)

I am just interested in the causes.