Preventing Youth Suicide in Hong Kong

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Suicide among youngsters in Hong Kong have usually been appeared in newspapers. Number of teenagers suicide cases has raised from 2.92 per 100,000 youths in 2000 to 3.41 per 100,000 youths in 2010 (The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, 2014), which is above 'the global adverage' of 14.5 per 100,000 people (Yip 2009). 24-hour Suicide Prevention Hotline Service received 350 more calls by people aged under 20 in 2013 while compared to the data in 2008 (Suicide Prevention Services, 2009). These datum show the seriousness of the teenage suicide issue. Youth suicide, as caused by low self-esteem of the victim can be alleviated by introducing online self-help program on mental health training for suicidal adelescenes, school providing 'selected suicide intervention programs' to high-risk suicidal youth, and promoting 'suicide prevention education' to train peer counsellors. ''Youth failure suicide'' is the suicide case among the age group of 10-19 (The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, 2014). It is caused by the extreme sensation of failing in achievement and interpersonal relationship aspects (Peck & Dolch 2000). There are three main reasons leading to youth failure suicide, including teenagers having low self-esteem, having the feelings of failure, and suffering from disturbances in family structure. First of all, teenagers with low self-esteem tend to commit suicide while facing the adversity (Peck & Dolch 2000). According to David Lester (1988), teenagers with poor self-image living with competitions in peer group may perform blatant suicidal acts (Berman, Jobes & Silverman 2006). Second, high expectation from society combining with the poor academic performance lead to the youngsters' feeling of guilt at failure (Tse & Bag... ... middle of paper ... ...ood Press. Suicide Prevention Service. (2009). Annual Report. Retrieved February 18, 2014, from http://www.sps.org.hk/index_en.php?&cid=1&id=19 The Hong Kong Council of Social Service. (2014). Social Indicators of Hong Kong. Retrieved February 18, 2014, from http://socialindicators.org.hk/en/indicators/youth/30.4 Tse, J.W.L., & Bagley C. (2002). Suicidal Behaviour, Bereavement and Death Education in Chinese Adolescents. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Company. Wasserman, D., & Wasserman, C. (2009). Oxford Textbook of Suicidology and Suicide Prevention. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. Woblenbaus, K. (2010). Suicide Information for Teens. Detroit: Omnigraphics, Inc. Yip, P.S.F. (2008). Suicide in Asia: Causes and prevention. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Yip, P.S.F., & Chiu, L.H. (1998). Teenage attempted suicide in Hong Kong. Crisis, 19(2), 67-72.

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