Suicide In Early Adulthood Essay

Late Adolescence to early adulthood spans from ages 18-25. This stage, also referred to as emerging adulthood, occupies the transitional period from adolescence to adulthood. This transition is accompanied by many changes and new achievements, but some things transcend the metamorphosis. Suicide is prevalent in both adolescence and adulthood. Emerging adulthood, often referred to as young adulthood, is characterized by five key features. Identity exploration, self-focus, instability, feeling in-between, and opportunity encapsulate the experience and tasks of an individual undergoing young adulthood (Erford & Vernon, 2015). During this period, physical health is at an optimum, cognitively, the brain enters postformal thought, and the

Studies have shown that suicidal behaviors in adolescence are often cursory thoughts, but these thoughts change as the individual enters adulthood (Nkansah-Amankra, 2013). The ideation of suicide can become a reality. There are many reasons why an individual would commit suicide. Many of the reasons are also characteristics of emerging adulthood. The lack of appropriate coping mechanisms or support to handle these challenges, can translate to suicide risk (Horwitz, Czyz, and King, 2014). Depression, psychological disorders, inner turmoil, impulsivity, feelings of extreme isolation all can lead one to suicide. Gender influences the likelihood for suicidal attempts or suicide. Males are much more likely to commit suicide than females. One reason is males are not taught by society how to deal with or express feelings of sadness, disappointment or fear and seeking help is seen as a weakness so rather than deal with the scrutiny they face their pain alone until they can no longer bear it. The masculine and feminine social constructions society teaches forces males and females to face their problems with different beliefs. Females are more likely to attempt suicide during adolescence and have suicidal thoughts but their rates of completion in young adulthood are almost four times lower than males (CDC, 2015). Race and ethnicity influence suicide as well. American Indian/Native Alaskan males have the highest suicide rate among men, and female Hispanics have the highest rate of suicide attempts. Early peer victimization in adolescence, influences how an adult manages maladaptation adjustment in adulthood (McDougall and Vaillancourt, 2015). Feelings of isolation, instability, identity exploration, substance abuse, and opportunity all work against these groups and suicide ideation and suicide become their only way to