Running head: Week 1 Discussion – Research Study Proposal
Week 1 Discussion – Research Study Proposal
Darrin Williams
4/17/2023
2 Week 1 Discussion – Research Study Proposal
Research topic: a research into the correlation between depression and suicide among young
people.
Theoretical framework
Suicide is one of the major global public health concern. Suicide and depression is also one of
the widely discussed topic among researchers. Majority of suicide studies have always been
linked to mental disorder. For example, a suicidal behavior research on Chinese University
Students measured the connection between suicide and different mental disorders such as
anxiety, stress, and depression including copying styles, hopelessness and the subjective well-
being (Lew, B.,. et al, 2019). The result showed that these factors were major factors for suicide.
Majority of people that have depressive disorder do not die or attempt to die by suicide but
depression has always been linked with a higher risk of suicide (Daly, M. (2022). Some studies
estimate that around 60% of individual that die by suicide have has bipolar disorder or
depression.
The aim of this research is to find the relationship or connection between suicide and
depression among young people, the percentage of those that are affected by depression and the
percentage of young people with depressive disorder that have a suicidal thought. Even though
there several research on depressive disorder among the youth less is covered on its connection
to suicide among young people. As such, this research is important because mental health issues
and following suicide deaths ad attempts has increasingly become a worldwide issues among
young people. In addition, the research will help in increasing counselling effective and come up
with preventive programs or strategies that can help prevent suicide and mental health problems
among youth in the society.
3 Week 1 Discussion – Research Study Proposal
Research questions
Hypothesis: Depression is wide-spread among young people and teenagers as well as it
is one of the main causes of suicide and suicide behaviors.
For this research, there are few question, which I would need to know and include;
What is the rate of youth and teenagers, with depressive disorder?
What is the percentage of young people with depressive disorder, who have
suicidal thought?
Other than depression, what other factors contribute to suicidal thoughts?
Among young people, can depression be regard as the main reasons for suicidal
thoughts or behaviors?
The research study will follow a mixed research method (both qualitative and quantitative
research method). It will also use questionnaires, interviews and involve psychologists and
young people aged between 16-25 years old. In addition, it does not focus on specific race,
ethnicity or nationality. Having it in a school setting will help incorporate diversity and cultural
sensitivity. Moreover, mental disorders are also influenced by individual cultural backgrounds
and social setting. To conclude, this proposed research study will help understand the connection
depression has with suicide behavior among young people and provide an insight on how to
understand and solve the problem.
4 Week 1 Discussion – Research Study Proposal
Reference
Daly, M. (2022). Prevalence of depression among adolescents in the US from 2009 to 2019:
analysis of trends by sex, race/ethnicity, and income. Journal of Adolescent
Health, 70(3), 496-499.
Lew, B., Huen, J., Yu, P., Yuan, L., Wang, D. F., Ping, F., & Jia, C. X. (2019). Associations
between depression, anxiety, stress, hopelessness, subjective well-being, coping styles
and suicide in Chinese university students. PloS one, 14(7), e0217372.
