Sociology ia unit Essay Example

Sociology ia unit Essay Statement of Problem 61 Page Suicide is becoming a growing issue in Jamaica and the Caribbean due to social forces arising. This research seeks to investigate and observe the factors that contribute to the prevalence of suicide within SST. Ann. Aims and Objectives This research attempts to determine: The causes and effects of suicide. X/ The extent to which suicidal tendencies result in suicide. V Suggestions to aid in lowering the suicide rates. Key terms ;Self-destruction : the act of destroying oneself *Suicidal: anything pertaining to suicide. Tendencies: an inclination or predisposition to something Psychological resilience: is defined as an individuals ability to properly adapt to stress and adversity. Literature Review As society becomes more modernized the rates of suicide significantly increased. Due to this, sociologists and researchers have conducted investigations to find out the factors that contribute to the increase in suicidal tendencies, the effects and also some the ories to explain the different types Of 71 Page suicide. According to the oxford dictionary , suicide is the intentional killing of oneself. In conducting this research for this literature review, information was extracted from numerous articles, books and internet sources in order to obtain suitable and valid data to support the study. It is the purview of psychologist and sociologist to study the factors that cause suicidal tendencies. Emilee Druthers is one such sociologist who had done extensive research on this topic in his auspicious book entitled suicide (1897) where he argues that, suicide is influenced by two social facts which are integration and regulation (see appendix). A suitable example of this is taken from a web based article entitled suicide, a silent plea To summarize this article, 16 year old girl, Francesca, ascribes her experiences at high school where her failure to fit in had result in an attempt to take her own life. Druthers farther explains that they are 4 different types of suicide: Altruistic, Anomic, Egoistic and Fatalistic suicide . (For more info see appendix) Studies have shown that suicide is more common between the ages Of 1 6 to 34 years old and are more frequent in males. We will write a custom essay sample on Sociology ia unit specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Sociology ia unit specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Sociology ia unit specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer From a web based source entitled the epidemiology of suicide in Jamaica 2002-2010: rates and patterns statistically state that, suicide rates for males were significantly higher than those for females. The majority (90. 4%) of suicide cases were males. A trend for higher rates of suicide was generally noted in the younger age groups. The main reason for this, according to the Office of the Childrens Advocate is the lack of adequate parenting. The family unit plays a key role in all societies since it serves to socialize the young members into the norms and values of the society. Without performing this function youths tend to turn to society (integration) to provide that function, which is not always a good means. (Described in the case of Francesca). Most recently, a new theory was devised by an American psychologist, Thomas Joiner, posted on a wed based article why people attempt suicide (2010) which 81 page argues that fearlessness towards pain may be learnt over time, which could explain the strong association between self-harming behavior and suicide! . This could also explain why suicide rates are higher among men than women. Conclusively, suicidal tendencies are detected by people who face mental and physical challenges which arise as society becomes more modernized. A study at the University of the West Indies have indicated that Jamaica has one of the lowest suicide rates in the world due to the fact that they believe one would not make it to heaven if they should commit suicide. This literature review seeks to farther explain my findings and is tangential and similar to my topic of investigation in that it pinpoints some factors that are linked to the increase in suicide. This research project WOUld add to the existing literature, since no empirical research has been conducted on the prevalence of suicide in Jamaica. 91 page 101 page Research Design This research will be done qualitatively, even thought it had followed the functionalist perspective (which looks at society as a whole), because the topic of suicide was very personal and it required direct primary sources of information in order to collect in-depth subjective data the research method used was an interview. The advantage of using this method is that I was able to detect lies or inconsistencies in the interviews accounts by observing their facial expression or body language, information could easily be clarified and here is no significant time delay between question and answer; the interviewer and interviewee can directly react on what the other says or does. In this study the researcher had also utilized a non-probability technique, the snowballing technique, in which I asked each respondent to Suggest another potential exponent. The reason choose to use this technique because it was possible to include members of groups where no lists or identifiable clusters even exist (e. G. , drug abusers, criminals) and also because I did not have to spend time and money trying to find another sample subject; rather they were being brought to me. 11 | Page Sociological Perspective Similar to the research Emilee Druthers carried out in his literary work Us iced (1 897), this research was guided though a functionalist perspective. The functional perspective depicts society as a complex system with many institutions that works together to promote stability such as the anatomy of the human body and its organs. By using the functionalist perspective it was easier to explain the factors of society that contribute to an individuals behavior and the institutions that play a significant role of colonization seeing that without them negative social phenomenon may arise and due to lack of knowledge o how to counteract these phenomena this leads to the self-destruction of the individual. 21 page Sample For this research, twenty (20) interviews were conducted, each from the parish of SST. Ann but also from different areas. This was done so that each sample unit response would vary as they all are encapsulated in different environments. The sample consisted of ten (10) males and ten (10) females which was a 1:1 ratio. Of the ;.NET (20) samples, seventeen (17) were subject to suicidal tendencies and only three (3) were not . The ages of these respondents range from 15-27 years. These 1 7 samples were selected because they have had experience of the topic being researched and the 3 Other samples were selected to serve as a contrast to illustrate how individuals surpassed suicidal tendencies. 131 page Data collection Instrument To see the instruments used to carry out this research please see the appendix. The data collection method the researcher will utilize is an unstructured interview. It will consist of 9 relevant questions for the individuals who have had suicidal tendencies and only 2 questions for those who never had suicidal tendencies. In shows a pie chart of the different methods the samples thought of using to take their lives. Hanging was the most preferred method, as they thought that it would be quick and somewhat pain less, it held a percentage of 35%, 25% o the sample stated they would shoot themselves, 20% said cutting, 15% preferred drug overdose and the least preferred Was jumping from a building, at 5%. A pattern can be observed that all the samples that stated jumping as a method were also the same samples would state that they would commit suicide in order to get attention.