Ireland's prosperity is increasing the risk of youth suicide, particularly among adolescent males, a National Children's Office conference has heard.
The number of suicides in Ireland has increased in line with the economic growth of the last ten years, Dr Caroline Smyth of RehabCare told the conference in Dublin yesterday. This increase in the suicide rate was not coincidental but could be attributed in part to the change in economic circumstances.
"Since 1990 there has been a 400 per cent increase in the number of suicides among young males between the ages of 15 and 24. This has happened at a time of significant social and cultural change and there is a significant relationship between the two factors," she said.
A move away from "traditional Irish values" towards "Celtic Tiger Ireland" had created a vacuum and nothing had been put in its place. "We have seen a move towards a more liberal, consumer based society. People are defined not by who they are but by what they own."
The traditional values found within the church and traditional authority figure role models such as the Garda had been eroded by recent scandals she said.
"There are very few role models left. There used to be the church or the guards . . . I'm not proposing returning to that era, but their loss has created a vacuum that needs to be filled."
Teenage boys and young men seemed to feel the cultural loss more than girls, she said. In 2003, 444 Irish people died by suicide, of which 358 were male. Some 92 of those males were between the ages of 15 and 24.
"It's harder than ever before to be a young man in Ireland. The 'ladette' culture has meant that more young women are adopting traditional male roles and young men are experiencing an inability to deal with this cultural change."
Young men also cite "helplessness" more often than young women as a factor that makes suicide an "understandable" option. Traditional research into suicide has failed to take into account the contextual issues of Irish society and treatment had been focused almost exclusively on medication, rather than the provision of support services.
"We need to put suicide prevention programmes into schools and the community not only to target high risk groups but all young people."
The conference was also presented with research into children's perception of "well being".
Primary school children ranked family, friends and pets as the greatest contributors to well being.
Teenagers ranked family and friends at the top of the scale but also cited their sense of selves, music and relationships with the opposite sex.
