Are young people aged 18-26 years from lower socioeconomic status more likely to commit suicide than those from upper socioeconomic status

Abstract

This research paper looks at who is more likely to commit suic ide youth aged 18-26 years from low socioeconomic status or youth aged 18-26 years from upper socioeconomic status. The choice of the topic has been informed by the minimal research conducted around this area. The hypothesis of the study is: There is a relationship between suicide and socioeconomic status. This hypothesis is based on the precepts of the economist approach which holds that socioeconomic status plays a role in suicide. This study will therefore try to find out who is more likely to commit suicide a 18-26 year old from a lower socioeconomic status background or from an upper socioeconomic status background. The study will employ clustered sampling technique. Cluster sampling is a sampling technique where the entire population is divided into groups, or clusters and a random sample of these clusters are selected. This technique was used since the population presented a list of subjects so widely scattered that surveying them would prove to be far too expensive. In this study, the researcher has grouped the sample population into two i.e. module I students and module II students, respondents from different schools will be included. Questionnaires and interviews methods of data collection are used. Questionnaires as a method has been chosen because: they can be used by a variety of people, in different environments, at different times, targeting a variety of topics for analysis; Questionnaires are easy to construct and convenience to work with; They are cheap to undertake, both in terms of time and material resources; Data collected is easy to process as the questionnaire is straight forward;. Interviews will be used to supplement information collected using questionnaires. Data shall be analyzed using quantitative and qualitative techniques. Statistical representation like charts and graphs will be used. Qualitative data will be presented in the form of reports.