Governor cites 3 E’s to move state forward


Volume 42, Issue 9. Today is .

February 1, 2005

Personality traits linked to suicide

Collin Nelson
Contributing Writer

Few individuals realize that suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students.
Every year, 80 out of 100,000 college students commit suicide in the United States.
“Adolescence is a period of experimentation and adjustment for many young people and this is also when we shed our childhood supports while trying to take on adult responsibilities,” said A.J. Schwartz, chairman of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Most people can look back at their teenage years and see the stresses and emotional storms that surrounded those years.
In recent years, however, more and more teenagers and young adults have found the strain unbearable.
In fact, their despair is reflected in the quadrupling of teenage and young adult suicide rates from the 1960s to the mid-‘90s, where it levels off.
After their son Cody committed suicide in the fall of 2002, Mr. and Mrs. Campbell found themselves asking the question, “Why?”
“After the police did their investigation, the fact that our son was gone by his own doing was still hard to comprehend,” said Mr. and Mrs. Campbell.
“He seemed to be enjoying college. Going to parties and making new friends.”
The small and limited studies which examine college suicide can only suggest some tentative findings to the contributing factors that lead someone to commit suicide, but despite their limitations, many suggest that certain groups of students have higher rates of suicide.
“Cody was always quiet and shy. He didn’t have his first girlfriend until he was 16. I still think there was something more to his suicide,” said Mrs. Campbell.
“He would always tell me that he didn’t ‘fit-in’ with any of the crowds in high school. Then after the investigation, there were a lot of signs that he had depression that we didn’t see before.”
In the letter Cody left behind, he said, “I just can’t take the pain. I hate that no matter what I do, my life isn’t what I want it to be. Please forgive me mom and dad.”
College students who commit suicide show different personality traits than non-student suicides.
“Most young adults who commit suicide have impulsive, high risk-taking personalities and usually abuse drugs or alcohol,” said Schwartz.
“College students who commit suicide usually are depressed, quiet, socially-isolated youths who do not abuse drugs or alcohol and don’t draw attention to themselves.”
However, the Winslow family feels that there is no “rhyme or reason” to the cause of youth suicide.
Their son, Kevin, was a highly-touted athlete, had a 3.0 GPA and had asked his high school sweetheart to marry him only two months before he committed suicide in the spring of 2002.
“Kevin was the ideal son. He always helped out, volunteered to help me with jobs around the house. He even came to me and told me about his plans for his life and about wanting to start a family,” said Mr. Winslow.
Psychologists say many suicidal students experience insomnia, anxiety and an array of symptoms that often disappear shortly before the suicidal act.
“Unfortunately, when teenagers go to someone for help, few report their suicidal intent and less than 25 percent receive psychiatric treatment,” said professor Reilly, Mesa Community College guidance counselor.
“When I heard that Kevin had gone and talked to his old teacher and told him how he had been feeling and that the teacher did not tell anyone else, I was furious! I couldn’t believe that he (the teacher) didn’t take it more seriously,” said Mrs. Winslow.
Every year, local and national suicide hot lines take more than 1 million calls from youths who are contemplating taking their lives, with the majority of those calls resulting in non-suicide.
“A lot of younger people contemplate committing suicide but ultimately don’t really want to go through with it. The mentioning of suicide is a cry for help.
They are asking for someone to comfort and help them through their pain.”
Since the Columbine High School incident in 1999, teachers, coaches and counselors have focused not only on disruptive students, but on those who are quiet and withdrawn as well.
In fact, most colleges and universities have contingency plans to help students cope with the aftermath of a suicide or tragedy such as Columbine.
The MCC campus has these plans in place but has never had to put them to use.