1. Introduction
Teensuicide isagrowinghealthconcernthatdesperatelyneedsattention;suicideisthe third
leadingcause of deathforyoungpeople aged10 to 24. Accordingto the CDC, the national suicide rate
rose two percentto12.6 suicide deaths per100,000 in2012 (insertcitation) .Asof 2006, the CDC
reportedthatabout one fifthof highschool studentsseriouslyconsideredsuicide.Half of those students
actuallyconsideredsuicide, that’sjustovereightpercentof the nation’sstudents. Suicideisafar
reachingepidemic,feltbymanyorganizations.AsstatedinSex,Drugs,anddeath“The societal costsof
teensuicide extendbeyondthe lossof life,familiesandlovedonesare troubledbyextendedperiodsof
grief andmourning. (citation) The CDC suggeststhat suicide ispreventable,andwithinvestmentin
education,policyandresearchincreasingsuicide ratesamongstteensmightbe able tobe curtailed. The
modernerais complex andeverchanging.Inthe lasttenyears,societies have had todeal with failing
economies,political unrest,environmental disasters,healthissuesandevenlarge scale religiousdebates
(sex drugsdeathcitation). The focusof thispaperisteen suicide;howeverthe ideasof EmileDurkheim
will be usedtounderstandhowa classical theoristwouldapproachthistopic. Durkheim’sTheoryof
suicide will be explained,alongwithacritique of itsstrengthsandweaknesses;inadditionthispaper
will alsoconsiderwhetherornotthat theoryis still relevantandapplicable today toteensuicide

2. Suicide Defined
Suicide isalargelydebatedtopic,highlycontroversial andhasbeena part of humanhistorysince
recordedtime.The conceptof suicide isnotuniversal,asthere some placesinthe worldwhere it does
not occur yetthose placesare rare and hard to find.Suicide isarelativelynew term;itdoesnotappear
inthe newtestamentorearlyChristianwritings (Evans,1988).The firstsightingof the wordsuicide
appearedin1662 whenEdwardPhillipscalledsuicide“a barbarous word,more appropriatelyderived
fromsus, a sow,than fromthe pronounsui,as if it were aswinishpartfor a man to kill himself (Evans,
1988). However,The oxfordEnglishdictionaryclaimsthatsuicide wasfirstusedin1651, derivedfrom
the Latin termSuicidium,whichinturnhadbeenproducedbycombiningthe Latinpronounfor“self”
and the verb“to kill”(Evans,1988). The CDC definessuicideas “takingone’sownlife (insertcitation).
Variousresearchstudieshave shownthatsuicidecanbe tracedback to many primitive tribes aroundthe
globe.There are reportsfrom1894 that documentsuicide amongstNorthandSouthAmericanIndians,
Bedouins,peoplesof the Causcasus,Melesians,Polynesiansand Indonesians (Evans,1988). Various
methodsof suicide existedatthat time,rangingfromdrinkingpoisontojumpingoff of highcliffs.As
statedearlier, suicidehasalwaysbeenapointof contention, causinggreatdebate astothe ethical
premisesof the topic. There’salwaysbeenacertainstigmathataccompaniedsuicide,andthatstigma
hasn’tmuch diedtoday. It’smyopinionthatmostpeople are notcomfortable withdiscussingsuicide,
and the resultisthat there is no clearcommunicationwhenitcomestothe topic. Inkeepingwiththe
historyof suicide,itshouldbe notedthatsuicide atone time wasclassifiedintotwocategories:Socially
or Individually(Evans,1988). Social suicide canbe lookedatas a sacrifice forbeinga memberof a
particularsociety.Intoday’sera,a goodexample would be amemberof a terroristorganizationgroup
or a kamikaze Japanesepilotfromhistory’spast. Individual suicide ismore orlesspertainingto
individualswhochoose toendtheirownlife for avariety of reasonssuchas intense despair,personal
humiliationorthe lossof a lovedone. Suicide isquite personal innature,butithasgrave social impact
as well.While it’sahighlydebatedtopic,it’salsoatopicthat lacksdefinitiveunderstanding.It’svery
hard to gatherdata about a topicsuch as thiswhenthose whoparticipate inthe act are no longer
presentphysically.
RiskFactors for suicide
There are several factorsthatcan playa part inteensbecomingariskforteensuicide,some of these
factors include:

3.  Incarceration
 Stressful lifeevents
 Alcohol ordrug abuse
 Historyof depressionormental illness
 Familyhistoryof suicide (insertcitation)
Accordingto the Americanpsychological association“more than90 percent of people whodie by
suicide have the aforementionedriskfactors.”Itmay be fairto say that there isa causal linkbetween
external circumstancesandpre disposedvulnerabilitiesinpeople thatcan place themmore at riskthan
others.ConsideringthatOne infive teenagersinthe U.S.seriouslyconsidersuicide,that’sabout1700
teensa yearthat are dyingdue tosuicide.Thatnumberisrisingsteadily. The CDCclaimsthat
“connectedness isacommonthreadthat weavestogethermanyof the influencesof suicidalbehavior
and has directrelevance forprevention(CDCcitation) .”Itwouldseemthatthe CDC isof the Durkheim
school of thought.
Emile Durkheim
Emile DurkheimwasbornonApril 15th
, 1858 in Epinal France;he is frequentlyregardedasthe fatherof
sociologyandiscreditedwithmakingsociologyalegitimate andformidable science.Durkheimgained
great recognitionwiththe publishingof The Divisionof Labor,The rulesof Sociological Method,and
Suicide:studiesinSociology,these worksare stillgreatlyreferencedtoday.Inregardstosuicide,
Durkheimwasinstrumentalinintroducingnew waystothinkaboutthe topic;histheoryof suicide
suggestedthatthere wasa relationshipbetweensocietyandthe actof suicide. He alsoconcludedthat
that there were several typesof suicide categories,these categories beinginfluencedbyfactorssuchas
the role of society, aperson’s integration intosocietyorisolationfromsociety. InDurkheim’slifetime,
he livedamongstradical displaysof revolution,political unstablenessandwar.Insome way,he
understoodthe impactandthe influence onindividuals aswell asthe consequences. PriortoDurkheim,
suicide wasstill highlydebatedandthere wasnouniversallyagreeduponcause forSuicide. Having
originallybeentreatedasamoral probleminthe eighteenthcentury, suicide came tobe regardedasa
growingsocial problemrequiringexplanationinthe nineteenth century(Lukes,1972.) Although
Durkheimprovidedgreatinsight andgroundbreakingresearch,histheoryhasbeencriticized
theoreticallyandmethodologically. InhisbookLe Suicide,Durkheimmakesthe case that“to
understandwhatpeople do,we have tolookatthe wayin whichtheyinteractwiththeirsocial aswell
as theirphysical environment(Fairbairn,1995)

4. Durkheim’s Definition and classification of Suicide
It‘simportantto considervariousdefinitionsof suicide sohere we shall examine the definitionas
definedbyDurkheim;suicideis:“Anydeathwhichisthe directorindirectresultof a positive ornegative
act accomplishedbythe victimhimself (Durkheim, 1951).AsstatedbyDurkheim, atany momentintime,
a givensocietyhasa definiteaptitudeforsuicide (Durkheim, 1951).“Examiningthe relationship
betweenthe total numberof voluntarydeathsandall agesandsexesservedasthe measurementforhis
study. Durkheimbelievedthat“everysocietyhasa"publicconscience"thatconstrainsandimpresses
certainideasthatexistindependentof the individual,butis"endowedwithcoercive power,byvirtue of
whichtheyimpose themselvesuponhim, independentof hisindividualwill"(Durkheim, 1958).” The
extenttowhichthe individualsinasocietyeitherconformsorresiststhe social constraintsimposedby
the publicconscience,reflectsthatsociety's"collective inclination”"(Durkheim, 1958).Durkheim
expandeduponthe notionof suicidebyclassifying itintofourcategories:Egoistic,AltruisticandAnomie
suicide.Egoisticsuicide canbe thoughtof as the lack of integrationof anindividual intoasocial groupor
setting.Itwouldbe fairto saythat individualswhocommitthistype of suicide findthemselves
unconnectedwithlifeingeneral.General symptomsorcluesof thissuicide include deepdepression,
feelingsof worthlessnessandnoreal connectionoridentificationwithanysocial group.Altruisticsuicide
can be thoughtas the inverse toEgoisticsuicide,here the individual suffersfromoverintegrationinto
societyandsuicide iscommittedforthe goodof others.Asmentionedearlier,examplesof thismight
include aJapanese Kamikaze pilot,religiousterrorists,andsoldiersinabattlefield.(Shieldingafellow
soldierfromcombator throwingone’sself uponagrenade inthe line of duty.) Finally,thereisAnomic
suicide;here the individual commitssuicideasa resultof suddeninterruptionof one’severydayroutine.
Suddenlife eventsand changesare keyfactors,some of these include:Divorce,bankruptcy,andlossof
a lovedone.
Durkheim’s Method
Durkheimtookthe positionthatanact of suicide byan individual wasnotalwaysthe resultof one’s
personal will ornegative thoughts.For the basisof hisstudyonsuicide,Durkheimanalyzedstatistics
providedbythe government.Ingeneral,Durkheim’sresearchis regardedasempirical butnumbersand
a relationshiptosocietyisnotagood enoughsource tocount as informationregardingsuicideandhow
it occurs. He maintainedthatsuicide isasocial problem, butasdemonstratedinthe exhaustive
classificationof Suicide earlier,the nature of societyplayedalarge role inhiswork. Societywasan
organismto Durkheim,andmanyof hisassumptionswere basedoff thisnotion. Withnumbers,patterns
and trendscan be established,andasresultnumerouscategoriescanbe created. Forexample,
Durkheimmade the claimthatsuicide occursmore ofteninthe summerseasonversusothersseasons.
He states”suicide ratesrise duringthe summermonths“notbecause the heatexercisesadisturbing
effectonorganisms,butbecause social lifeismore intense” (Durkheim, 1951).He alsomade the claim
that suicide rateswere higherinmenthanwomenandhigherforthose whoare single versusthose who

5. were married,higherratesinpeople whodidnothave childrenversusthose whodid,andhigherrates
duringtimesof peace thanwar (Durkheim, 1951).It shouldalsobe notedthat Durkheimconsidered
religious factorsaswell andthose characteristicsplayedapart inclassificationof suicide forDurkheim,
especiallywhenconsidering Egoisticsuicide.The key ideatotake note of for Durkheimisthe individual
and theirintegrationintosocietyof varying degrees.
Criticisms and strengths of Durkheim’s theory
Durkheimused“government”statisticsasthe basisof studyon suicide buthow reliable were
those statistics? Didthe governmentdefine suicide the same asDurkheim?Withanentirelynon
scholarlyinstitutionrecordinginformation,wasinformationusedbyDurkheimbiasedonbehalfof those
whogatheredsuchinfo? Consideringthe exhaustive andmultiple categoriesof suicide createdby
Durkheim,one wouldhave towonderwhatthe governmentwasrelyingon whenconsideringthe
gatheringof data. Aswithany institution,languagevaries consideringcategoriesanddefinitions.With
that beingsaid,who’stosaythat the government‘s definitionandclassificationfellinline withthatof
Durkheim.Asstated earlierinthispaper,there were nouniversallyagreedupondefinitionsof suicide
priorto Durkheim’sresearch.Togive anexample,let’ssayyouwantedtosee how manyof yourfriends
drank soda.Maybe you are fromthe eastcoast and you referto soda as “pop” andyou askyour friends
“do youdrinkpop”? Your friendsmaysono,and youmay findyourself miffedthattheydon’t.Naturally,
a conversationwouldensueandthe language barrierwouldbe clearedupbutif suchconversation
didn’toccur one wouldhave the wrongideathattheirfriendsdidn’tdrinksoda. Large metaphorto
grasp,but the ideashouldbe evident. Perceptionandbiasare a legitimatecriticismtowards Durkheim,
and thisisevidentinhistake towardsocietybydefinitionof suicide.Are the social factshe mentionsin
hisdefinitions adirectreflectionof the world’s view?Sincesocietiesare organisms,isthere alarge
chance that differentsocietiesviewsocial factsindifferentways? Anothermajorideatoconsideris
whodeemsa suicide asuicide?Intoday’stime,acoroneror medical examinermaymake the call thata
suicide occurred.Who’stosay that theirassumptionsare alwayscorrect? Durkheim’stheorywasn’tall
bad,he wassuccessful indefiningauniversallyagreedupondefinitionof suicide,rejectingvarious
invaliddefinitionscreatedbyothers. Essentially,hisdefinitionsof suicide serveastestable hypotheses
consideringthe classificationsof eachdefinition.Naturallythese hypothesesare basedoff integration
intosocietyaspreviouslymentioned. Whataboutsocial media?How that tobe classifiedintoday’s
time?
Conclusion/Opinion
Durkheim’stheoryof suicideisstill relevanttoday,buthistheorycoulddefinitelyuse amakeoverin
differentways.Timeshave changedandthere thingsnotaddressedbyhistheory.Inhisinitial studies,
adolescentteenswere notafocusfor himand technicallytheyare intheirownformor categoryof

6. suicide. Eventhoughthe timesinDurkheim’slifetime were hectic,there definitelywasnowayfor him
to account forthe variousdistractionsandpressuresthatare presenttoday. Facebook,twitterand
cyberbullyingingeneral are large factorsinsuicide today,itwouldbe interestingtosee Durkheim’s
stance on such technology. Facebookallowsforanindividualtobe connectedtothose theyknowor
connectwithbut itcan also highlightan individual’sconnectedness tosociety orthe lackof. Inrecent
yearshoweverFacebookhasbeenlinkedtoyouthproblemssuchassuicide (Anderson, 2011)
Additionally, biasandperceptionare large partsof Durkheim’s work,buteverysocietyorindividual
perceivesthingsdifferentlyincludingthe definitionof suicide.Withthe biasof coroners,medical
examinersandtestimonythe rate andclassificationof suicide intoday’stimecanbe greatlyaffected.

7. References
Lukes,S.(1972). Émile Durkheim;hislife andwork,ahistorical andcritical study.New York:Harper &
Row.
(Lukes,1972)
Evans,G., & Farberow,N.(1988). The encyclopediaof suicide.New York,N.Y.:FactsonFile.
(Evans,1988)
Taylor,S. (1982). Durkheimandthe study suicide.London:Macmillan.

8. (Taylor,1982)
Fairbairn, G. (1995). Contemplating suicide the language and ethics of self-harm. London: Routledge.
(Fairbairn, 1995)
KING,K. (2012). The Ecologyof Youth Depression.PreventionResearcher,19.
(KING,2012)
TeenSuicide ispreventable.(2014).RetrievedNovember12th
, 2014, from
http:/www.apa.org/research/…/suicide.aspx
(Gould,M.,Grenberg,T., Velting,D,Shaffer,D.,2014)
Anderson,T.(2011). Sex,drugs,and death:Addressingyouthproblems inAmericansociety.New York:
Routledge. (Anderson,2011)
Anderson, M.L. and Taylor, H.F. (2009). Sociology: The Essentials. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
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