Teen Suicide rates have increased in the past few years. Many teen deaths have been lead to teens being unhappy with their body weight and body image. Forced to fit in and look like the celebrities. At times pushing themselves to be thinner or even at times to gain more weight, effecting their health. “A survey involving 13,601 students in ninth through 12th grade. The findings appear in the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, published Monday. About 19 percent said they had considered suicide in the previous year and about 9 percent said they had attempted it.” (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/06/health/main699998.shtml)
Body dysmorphic disorder, is a disorder in which individuals, usually teens find their body to be imperfect. Causing them to endanger their life and usually leading to teen suicide. People with this disorder are 45x more likely to commit suicide. This shows that body image truly does have a large amount of impact of the lives of many. Teens always are trying to fit in and rarely are they ok with their body and who they are. Oddly enough white teens seem to have the highest risk of teen suicide. I think this has to do with culture, many see people on the television and try to idolize them. People that are in magazines and in commercials are often sought after for their body image and looks. What many people don’t know is that most posters, magazines and commercials are edited. You can change everything from neck size to pupil color. Nowadays its almost like we idolize someone who is not even real after all the editing is done. Teen suicide rates will continue to escalate if people are not aware of what is being done in today’s media.
-Carlos Garcia
