Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Making sense of suicide
T2 - a discourse analysis of young people's talk about suicidal subjecthood
AU - Roen, Katrina
AU - Scourfield, Jonathan
AU - McDermott, Elizabeth
PY - 2008/12
Y1 - 2008/12
N2 - Though there is a substantial body of literature on youth suicide, relatively few studies provide a detailed analysis Of Young people's own understandings of suicidal behaviour. The present research pays particular attention to how young people make sense of suicide, in the understanding that suicide only becomes possible insofar as it is imaginable. Interviews and focus groups (including 69 participants in total) with people aged 16-24 years provide the empirical material for this study. Research participants were recruited across a range of ethnic groups and sexual orientations, and drawn from rural and urban areas in the North of England and South Wales. Four frameworks for understanding youth suicide are discussed in this paper. These frameworks of understanding variously (i) Cast suicidal subjects as Other, (ii) highlight suicide as something that is accessible to young people, (iii) demonstrate the desire to rationalise suicidal behaviour, and (iv) define suicidal subjects in terms of their relationships with others. The interwoven meanings that run through these four frameworks, and their connection with existing literature, are discussed and the implications for suicide prevention are indicated. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
AB - Though there is a substantial body of literature on youth suicide, relatively few studies provide a detailed analysis Of Young people's own understandings of suicidal behaviour. The present research pays particular attention to how young people make sense of suicide, in the understanding that suicide only becomes possible insofar as it is imaginable. Interviews and focus groups (including 69 participants in total) with people aged 16-24 years provide the empirical material for this study. Research participants were recruited across a range of ethnic groups and sexual orientations, and drawn from rural and urban areas in the North of England and South Wales. Four frameworks for understanding youth suicide are discussed in this paper. These frameworks of understanding variously (i) Cast suicidal subjects as Other, (ii) highlight suicide as something that is accessible to young people, (iii) demonstrate the desire to rationalise suicidal behaviour, and (iv) define suicidal subjects in terms of their relationships with others. The interwoven meanings that run through these four frameworks, and their connection with existing literature, are discussed and the implications for suicide prevention are indicated. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
KW - UK
KW - Youth suicide
KW - Suicidal subjects
KW - Discourse analysis
KW - YOUTH SUICIDE
KW - RISK-FACTORS
KW - BEHAVIOR
KW - COMMUNITY
KW - DEATH
KW - GAY
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.09.019
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.09.019
M3 - Journal article
VL - 67
SP - 2089
EP - 2097
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
SN - 0277-9536
IS - 12
ER -