Suicides In Teenage Wasteland By Donna Gaines

In "Teenage Wasteland", Donna Gaines has done research that examined specific details of the lives and deaths of the four teens in Bergenfield, New Jersey. She studied suicides by spending time with the teens in the community in order to understand their problems. Donna Gaines establishes a social question concerning about how the “burnouts” have been influenced by the social factors. Social factors, including their personal relationships with others, economic situations- no opportunity for advancement, lack of legitimate hang-out space, drugs, alienation from school and parents, high expectations from parents, and negative judgments influenced the situation in which teens wanted to be isolated and thought suicide was their answer. Similarity, C. Wright Mills have said to look beyond our personal problems and search for their possible links with social

The author embedded herself to the community and interviewing the kids about how prior to the 1960s teenage suicide "was a virtually nonexistent category" yet by 1987 it was seen as “epidemic". Teenager’s life would not be miserable until people’s bad decisions has vanished. The author, establishes techniques like interviewing the teens in the community, interviewing the parents of the four youths, probing school records, and communicating with the teachers about the behavior of the kids in school. Moreover, Donna Gaines had some bias coming into the study. She mentioned that if she could not help them, why she would bother them. She also mentioned, The colored kids in an urban were most likely to kill each other, however, more rural and suburban kids do it often because they have a fear of being stuck in the same area and having no freedom. Donna Gaines addresses her readers how she was unable to let go of the burden that she carried to investigate why the “epidemic” rose in high rates of teen