Peterson Abigail, Smith-Morris Carolyn
Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275, USA.
School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2024 Apr 9;21(4):456. doi: 10.3390/ijerph21040456.
Clusters of youth suicide and death are tragic for communities and present long-term consequences for the surviving youths. Despite an awareness of community-based patterns in youth suicide, our understanding of the social and community factors behind these events remains poor. While links between poverty and suicide have been well documented, wealthy communities are rarely targeted in suicide research. In response to this gap, we conducted ethnographic research in a wealthy U.S. town that, over a recent 10-year period, witnessed at least four youth suicides and seven more youth accidental deaths. Our interviews ( = 30) explored community values and stressors, interpersonal relationships, and high school experiences on participant perceptions of community deaths. Youth participants characterize their affluent community as having (1) perfectionist standards; (2) permissive and sometimes absent parents; (3) socially competitive and superficial relationships; and (4) a "bubble" that is protective but also exclusionary. Our qualitative findings reveal network influence in teen suicides and accidental deaths in a wealthy community. Greater attention paid to the negative effects of subcultural values and stressors in affluent communities is warranted. Further, our work promotes the value of ethnographic, community-based methodologies for suicidology and treatment.
青少年自杀和死亡事件的集群对社区来说是悲剧性的，并且会给幸存的青少年带来长期影响。尽管人们已经意识到青少年自杀存在基于社区的模式，但我们对这些事件背后的社会和社区因素的理解仍然不足。虽然贫困与自杀之间的联系已有充分记录，但富裕社区在自杀研究中很少受到关注。针对这一空白，我们在美国一个富裕城镇进行了人种志研究，在最近10年期间，该城镇至少发生了4起青少年自杀事件和另外7起青少年意外死亡事件。我们的访谈（n = 30）探讨了社区价值观和压力源、人际关系以及高中经历对参与者对社区死亡事件看法的影响。青少年参与者将他们富裕的社区描述为具有：（1）完美主义标准；（2）宽容且有时不在身边的父母；（3）具有社会竞争性和表面化的人际关系；以及（4）一个具有保护作用但也具有排他性的“泡沫”。我们的定性研究结果揭示了富裕社区中网络对青少年自杀和意外死亡的影响。有必要更加关注富裕社区中亚文化价值观和压力源的负面影响。此外，我们的工作提升了人种志、基于社区的方法在自杀学和治疗方面的价值。
