This month, a Washington Post journal authored by Justin (2019) documented the case of Rylan Hagan, a sixth-grader who had just qualified for a trip to Disney and ended his own life through suicide. The event of the death of Rylan raises key issues with regard to increased rates of teen and adolescents suicides in the country. Statistics from a diversity of sources seems to have a convergence on the increase in the number of teen suicides in the country, a trend that is worrying. While everyone is destined to death, self-inflicted death through suicide is not encouraged. Young persons who are talented, skilled and empowered to make a difference in the future become victimized through suicide. The current trend makes this subject worth discussing.
Analysis and Discussion
The event is captured in the context of teen suicides that have risen in the recent past in the country. In this specific event, Chambers was on a phone conversation with her son Rylan less than half an hour before he ended his own life. At the time, Chamber was receiving a thanksgiving donation basket at the local church when her son told her that he was frustrated by a malfunctioning printer at their one bedroom apartment where they lived. When Chambers attempted to call again, Rylan did not pick. She rushed home and called her name and he would not answer. She searched for him at the bathroom, he was not there, only to find the young boy had hang him up at the bedroom (Justin, 2019). She screamed, the neighbors came and found Rylan lying on his back, eyes closed, hands purple, foam around his mouth. Chamber started CPR until the ambulance arrived when Rylan was taken to hospital and pronounced dead. Investigations were done to know the cause of the incident but it was hard to find answers on specific reasons he killed himself.
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In one of the recent cases regarding teen and adolescent suicides that have been reported, it was disturbing to come to the knowledge that Rylan was no more by engaging in committing suicide by hanging himself at the every bedroom they lived. While it continues to bring out shocking revelations on the trends of suicide among the young people, there is no doubt that effectiveness in dealing with this issue is through an analysis of the cases to establish the contributory factors (Justin, 2019). The teens and adolescents are the future of the world and as such, efforts have to be made to reverse the existing trends on this behavior. In fact, it is of great importance for not only this event, but also others to be investigated with details (Joiner, 2007). Notably, the reported suicide is an ongoing event. It happens frequently and people are affected by it. The reporter in the Washington’s Post article reported it took place at the house Rylan shared with the mother. The reporter further makes it clear of the shock and anguish that Chambers, Rylan’s mother, had to go through at the time of the happening of the event. Indeed, the event became traumatic to her, as she was involved at the time Rylan took his life. She talked with the boy a while before he hang himself and was at the house moments after he was pronounced dead at the hospital Rylan was taken. The reporter explains clearly that the issues of teen suicide are one that continues to affect the society due to the increased numbers of reported cases (Hawton, 2012).
Teen suicide is one that directly affects not only the one who commits suicide, but also the parents/guardians who raise the children. In the same way the reporter indicates, Chambers was at shock that her son was no more. It is a feeling that probably cannot be well expressed considering the expectation that parents, friends and the society has on teens and adolescents. In fact, this event has gross impacts not only on the social lives of the people the deceased shared lives with, but also on the social fabric of the entire society. Whenever the society does not value life and does not consider it a priority, it leads to continued deterioration of the most important value of life, the sanctity of life. In a society where we share life with others, the occurrence of suicide events does more bad than good (Justin, 2019). This is more specially for this contextual case where suicides are committed by teens/adolescents.
The current event raises key sociological issues/paradigms. One of the items that come into play with regard to this event is social construction. Social construction comes into play in terms of the set of social values, ethics, and principles that guides the way people relate, handle conflicts and manage their social life. A close look at the happenings with regard to the life of Rylan, it becomes clear that his life is hard hit because he had poor social construction having lived alone with the mother and facing struggles that he did not explain. Actually, he dies moments after he called his mother and share frustrations about the printer that was not functioning. In this case, there is a high likelihood that Rylan faced great challenges while managing pressure. His social construction model was limited in many ways as regards to fully expressing what he feels and possible ways the challenges would be handled as opposed to taking on such a step such as suicide (Curran, 2014).
Social stratification and control also come out as major issues that Rylan faced that possibly contributed to the problems that he went through leading to the suicide. In this regard, Rylan could have faced the challenge of accepting his identity as he lived with her single mother and there were challenges at the home. Considering the fact that he raised concerns in light of the malfunctioning printer, the issue may be bigger than that. There is a probability that he felt helpless and saw the problem as one that was going to be stressful to the mother. He also probably faced key challenges of social control where he did not want to be limited by the real limitations that exist in this life (Chiles, 2016). For instance, he would not get patient with the malfunctioning printer due to lack of self-control.
Conclusively, the case that is presented in this study is one of the recent concerns of the 21 st century world. Teen and adolescents suicide rates are on the increase and this may not change without addressing the sociological causes of this problem. There is need for cases such as this of Rylan and others to be a good baseline to conduct research on the sociological causes behind increased teen suicide. The focus of taking on such approaches would be to establish workable solutions that would minimize if not stop the continued rise of teen suicides in the country. Consistent research on the subject would play a major role in leading to the needed solutions on this issue.
References
Chiles, J. (2016). Teenage Depression and Suicide. NewYork: Chelsea House.
Curran, D. (2014). Adolescent Suicidal Behavior. NewYork: Taylor & Francis.
Hawton, E. (2012). Reducing Suicide: A National Imperative. London: Springer Science.
Justin (2019) Why did he kill himself. Washington Post, MARCH 7, 2018. Available at/: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2018/03/07/feature/he-was-happy-so-far-as-i-know-of-a-family-reels-after-an-11-year-olds-suicide/?utm_term=.0598c63e1b9f
Joiner, T. (2007). Why People Die by Suicide. NewYork: Harvard University Press.
Wasserman, D. (2016). Suicide: An Unnecessary Death. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
