Peer and Media Influence Social interaction in a community promotes peer-to-peer influence in the propagation of ideas, culture, and beliefs. In suicide studies, these influences have been found to have a link with the prevalence of suicide. Researchers have considered if a report of clustered cases of suicide attempts has a bearing on the general prevalence rate of suicide in a region. Further analysis also explored if these clustered reports have a stronger impact on particular age brackets in the study population. Cluster cases of suicide attempt reports are common among adolescents in the 15 to 19 years age bracket. Although there are varying social explanations for the reports of these studies, a few observations stand out. For instance, researchers have demonstrated that having a friend, relative, colleague, or peer who attempted or died by suicide is usually a predictor of a possible suicide attempt in the future. This observation seems to hold strong in the youth population, which is significantly dependent on peer-to-peer influences. Social learning is considered a possible explanation for this observation (Mueller et al., 2021). Adolescents generally approach the social construct of leaning on knowledge acquired from the environment. In regions with a high prevalence of suicide attempts, at-risk youth tend to consider suicide as a potential solution to the struggles of adulthood. Other explanations for peer influence on suicidal ideation and behavior include social integration and complicated bereavement. Media influence on the prevalence of suicide in a region also generates considerable research traffic. Studies have demonstrated increased clusters of incidence prevalence in some regions after widely publicized media coverage of suicide cases (Bridge et al., 2020). Demonstrating an imitative influence of media on the prevalence of suicide is important for policymakers. To a significant extent, if a positive link is proven, policymakers can design campaigns focused on reducing the prevalence of suicide attempts by pushing for content regulation of media reporting. Online discussion forums, social media platforms, and other media sources offering practical information on suicide have been found to have the same effect. This has prompted the ban of websites discussing controversial practical information on suicide in many countries (Bersani et
al., 2022). However, there exist some positive media effects on suicide rates. Broadcasting a suicide helpline and promoting programs that highlight the ills of suicide attempts seem to offer a protective blanket for people considering suicide. Although research interest in this field is just emerging, there are many reports supporting these protective factors as principal elements in campaigns against suicide. Access to Lethal Means In the youth population, point or cluster reports on suicide attempts seem to have a link to the availability of means in the region. People considering suicide are usually ambivalent about the decision to end their life. Transitioning from ideation to attempt or death happens along a trajectory influenced by psychosocial stressors, protective factors, and availability of means. The availability of means, whether lethal or not, appears to be crucial to this transition. In many studies, the availability of means also seems to affect the decision to select a method of suicide. It might also be linked to patterns noticed in the region. For instance, methods of suicide in the youth population include hanging, overdosing on prescription medications, jumping from a high place, and running into traffic. Over the years, this pattern has become consistent with point clusters and mass clusters of suicide reports. In the older population, the common methods of suicide appear to be more varied as the available means become more complicated. Adults would rather use firearms, ingest poisonous substances, or hang. Restricting the physical availability of means for suicide is considered an important prevention strategy in campaigns against the prevalence of suicide. Restricting the circulation of prescription drugs in the population limits the availability of this method of suicide among the youth population. Other efforts at checking the rate of suicide attempts include the construction of barricades around high-rise locations and equipping traffic control officers to better watch out for and prevent cases of suicide on the highways. This also holds true for the adult population; restricting access to firearms and confiscating unregistered firearms can help with reducing suicide rates.
PSYCHOLOGICAL RISK FACTORS AND CORRELATES OF YOUTH SUICIDE
Psychosocial risk factors and their correlation with suicide are assessed through interviews, self-reports, and behavior observation over some time. Depending on the region and prevailing environmental factors, these psychological risk factors might vary considerably. Studies have organized the measurable psychological risk factors into different domains: Cognitive, affective, and social processes. Other risk factors do not fit Cognitive Risk Factors Impulsivity has been widely studied as a psychological risk factor for suicide under cognitive processes. Trait impulsivity has been demonstrated to be effective in predicting the prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempts in the youth population. The evidence on impulsivity remains controversial, as much evidence suggests only a small correlation between impulsivity and suicide intent and behavior. However, when considered in combination with aggression, the effect of impulsivity appears to be more significant as a risk factor for suicide intent and attempts. Assessing the impulsivity–aggression complex has also been demonstrated to be effective in predicting the pattern of family transmission of suicide risk across different age groups (O’Reilly et al., 2020). The template for assessing the relationship between impulsivity and aggression is currently used in research studies focused on exploring anger as a potential psychological risk factor for suicide intent and behavior in the global youth population.
perfectly into these domains; however, most can be grouped into any of the three. Social processes encompass a family of psychological processes oriented toward others, including engagement in interpersonal relationships and observations of the engagement (Kemp et al., 2022). On the other hand, affective processes describe psychological factors that border the emotional and largely relate to negative affect. Suicide studies focused on measuring the impact of impulsivity as a risk factor also consider how it is measured. Impulsivity can be assessed by self-report measurements or by behavioral measurements. Direct comparisons between these two methods have shown that behavioral measures offer a more comprehensive differentiation between youth at heightened risk of suicidal ideation and behavior and those with no significant risk (MacPherson et al., 2022). This differentiation is important in the design of studies aimed at exploring the prevalence in a large population of youth with a primary focus on cognitive process as a psychological risk factor. However, behavioral measurements can also produce conflicting results in many cases. This observation stresses the importance of making other risk factors uniform before relying on the results of behavioral measurements.
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