Is it fair to say teens commit suicide because they're too spoiled and pampered for the real world?

Question

It seems to me all these kids want is an identity.

Don't shoot the messenger. Chew these people out: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArvTEqrByQ09w3D6aY_CB.Dsy6IX?qid=20070205150015AAT8l6u

Answer 1

I think nowadays there is a great disconnect between parents that work and their children that reap the benefits of their work, but lack discipline and parental attention. I think that could lead down a very dangerous path.

I grew up in a city that was the teenage suicide capital of the US. I can tell you there is definite correlation between children that are from affluent families. Parents there try to make up for their parental shortcoming by doing the only thing they know how to do - provide money and luxuries to their child. This always comes at a high expense.

I know in my situation, I was throughly unprepared for the outside world becaues I didn't know the value of a dollar. I am now 30 years old and still have basically the same problem! It does lead to depression and could lead to greater problems.

I hope this helps!

Answer 2

No, it is not fair to say that teens commit suicide because they're too spoiled and pampered for the real world.

If this were the case, there would be a lot more suicides, right?

Seriously, if a teen commits suicide or thinks of committing suicide or attempts to commit suicide, there is a serious underlying condition - mental illness, drug use, peer pressure - whatever the case may be... being spoiled is not a reason to commit suicide.

Seeking a sense of identity is not the sole reason for suicide either - again, it is a very serious thing - with way too many factors to suggest that it could be attributable to just one thing. I think to suggest this would be an oversimplification of what leads teenagers to take such drastic steps.

Sorry, I just don't agree with this theory at all.

Answer 3

I do not think that there is a correlation whatsoever between these. There has been significant evidence supporting the claim that mental illnesses which may cause suicidality is genetically inherited. For example, in my family, we have a ridiculously high percentage of mental illness, many of which include suicidal thoughts/attempts. My family has come from living paycheck-to-paycheck a few generations ago. Now we are securely in the middle class. There are just as many incidences of suicide in this generation as there were in generations past.

In my personal experience with suicide, it comes from an overwhelming depression from which I desperately needed to escape. There are no words to describe the pain that depression causes. If non-suicidal people knew what it would felt like, stigma would not exist towards the mentally ill.

Answer 4

No, I don't really think that's fair. And yes, they badly want an identity. That's kind of what adolescence is all about - finding out who you are and how you fit in the world, what you like and dislike. And they so badly want to fit in.

Teens who commit suicide are depressed. It could be acute, like something traumatic happened and they can't cope, or they are chronically depressed and need treatment. You don't just kill yourself because you're spoiled. I have never attempted suicide but I self-mutilated when I was 14 and 15, and it had nothing to do with being pampered.

Answer 5

No that is not the case in a lot of the cases, usually they can not take what life is dishing out to them, and the only why that they feel that they can control this is by taking their own lifes. It is a poor coping skill, and an irration thought. Today the world has changed a lot , most of you out there, your parents are not there for you, and you really need that . The family unit has fallen apart may i add, and tha t is too bad, cause you need a good family unit, and people, parents that are will to sit down with an open mind, and listen, and get you help before anything serous does happen.

Answer 6

I think that you are getting your information from the wrong sources. Whether it's teenagers or adults that commit suicide it is because of a mental illness or addiction. If you are depressed and have no where to turn and feel that the support of your families, school, friends, etc aren't there for you to build you back up then I feel that this may seem the only way out for some.

Answer 7

I remember when I was teenager; I thought about attempting suicide and wanted to arrange it some way that I'd be saved at the last minute, then I'd get better and everything would be okay.

Then another kid at my school cut his wrists at the front door of a church, and wrote "Jesus help me" on the door with his blood. He lived, and presumably got treatment. I thought "he stole my idea" and then realized that it was a bad idea to start with.

I went to school with another kid. His Dad used to beat him up because he didn't like his long hair. He had only one shirt and one pair of pants that he wore everyday and washed every night. He killed himself, he definitely wasn't spoiled, abused perhaps, but not spoiled.

I didn't have a hard upbringing, but I definitely wasn't spoiled. I knew other kids that got a new car for their sixteenth birthdays, my parents told me to get a job and pay for my own car if I wanted one.

Some of the things you say about being spoiled or pampered might be factors in teen suicide, but I doubt if it's the root cause. My wife's cousin was spoiled and pampered as a child, and now she's a spoiled and pampered young adult who has difficulty getting along with other people. I never heard of her attempting suicide or anything like that. I know lots of people who were spoiled and pampered, most of them seem to grow up to be snooty and arrogant adults.

Answer 8

It is hard to generalize such an act of finality as suicide. Most because of their misconceptions about life, love and friends. About purpose and pain. Too young, too distant. A spoiled kid usually makes the parents want to commit suicide

Answer 9

No, of course not. I think you are making an incorrect assumption, that material wealth is what is most important in a person's life (ie. "spoiled and pampered").
It is the emptiness inside, the profound despair and hopelessness, that leads teens and others to commit suicide

Answer 10

I think that statement is unfair and insensitive. Teens who commit suicide are deeply unhappy, confused, and often over- or under-medicated. What they suffer is real, even if a spoiled suburban teen doesn't face the same hardships as other people might.
Instead of looking down your nose at them, maybe you should try helping them to put things in perspective.