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Abstract
In the quest to effectively understand what motivates adolescents and young adults to attempt suicide, it is imperative to examine the interplay between factors pertaining to suicide risk, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt. While current psychological models of suicide have captured this interplay proficiently, they have predominantly been informed by research undertaken in adult populations. Further, these studies have largely been epidemiological and/or clinical in nature, with a diminutive focus on capturing the lived experience of suicide via qualitative methods.
The first study in this thesis systematically reviewed and examined qualitative studies conducted between 1995 and 2015, which had investigated motives for suicide in individuals aged 12-25. Results indicated disparity between current suicide models and participants’ lived experience accounts of suicide. Additionally, the review found a lack of research rigour and comprehensiveness among studies which were identified.
The second study in this thesis undertook a rigorous, comprehensive qualitative study informed by the findings of the first. Robust theoretical underpinnings, rigorous analytical frameworks, and novel approaches to recruitment and data collection, were employed to explore the multiple complex factors which motivate young individuals to take their own lives. An extensive thematic network analysis revealed interpersonal dysfunction, environmental factors and compromised identity served as the highest risks for suicide in this population. Further investigation of thoughts, emotions and feelings present while ideating, and at the time of attempt, highlighted different themes to those reported in existing suicide models, particularly regarding the linearity of the suicide trajectory endorsed by the models.
The overall findings of this research suggest the frameworks of current suicide models - predominantly informed by quantitative studies and investigating adult populations - have not reflected some of the vital themes which characterise the suicide experience of younger populations. Further identified is the capacity of comprehensive qualitative inquiry to highlight richly detailed lived experience and contextual factors, not accessible via clinical and epidemiological studies. Drawing upon qualitative inquiry to inform both extant and future theoretical models, can provide important new insights into understanding suicide in adolescent and young adult populations.