Nearly 20 percent of fourth-graders in Taipei City and Hsinchu County have had suicidal thoughts at one time or another, according to a research paper released yesterday.
Chiang Yi-chen (江宜珍), a doctoral student at National Taiwan University's Institute of Public Health and Welfare, interviewed a total of 2,075 fourth-graders from Taipei City and Hsinchu County, as well as 1,841 mothers and 1,652 fathers of these 10-year-olds, as part of her research into the factors behind suicidal tendencies among elementary-school students.
According to her survey, 26 percent of the Taipei fourth-graders interviewed said they have thought about committing suicide, while 13 percent of the Hsinchu students said that they have.
This indicates that children in urban areas are more likely to succumb to the stress in their daily lives resulting from school or family relations or other personal reasons, Chiang said.
Chiang also found from the survey results that girls are more likely to have suicidal thoughts.
She further concluded that children who live in big cities and often feel lonely or depressed, or who are not on good terms with their family members, or have violent tendencies, are more likely to think about committing suicide.
Chiang said she found that most of the 10-year-olds that she interviewed are genuinely aware of the meaning of death and what suicide is.
Family-related factors, including violence or low income, are major factors prompting the fourth-graders to think about killing themselves, according to Chiang's report.
The one child that Chiang found to be the saddest among those she interviewed was a boy in Taipei City who said he has attempted suicide three times over the past 17 months, including jumping from a building, slashing a wrist and trying to hang himself.
The boy, who suffers from tongue problems due to a genetic defect, said he often feels depressed and bullied, particularly at school. Influenced by his family's religious beliefs, the boy said that he believes in reincarnation and that he is not at all afraid of dying, according to Chiang.
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