“The Walls Were Closing in, and We Were Trapped”: A Qualitative Analysis of Street Youth Suicide

Semistructured interviews focusing on suicide were conducted with 80 street youth in agencies & on the streets of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, & Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Participants described their understandings of the phenomenon of suicide among street youth & the meanings suicide held for them. Qualitative analysis of the interviews revealed themes of worthlessness, loneliness, hopelessness, & most centrally the feeling of being "trapped" as forming the construct of suicide held by the participants. These idioms of distress were situated within the context of a street life that included social stigma & drug abuse. 2004 Tables, 48 References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2004.]

Publication Date: 
2004
Pages: 
30-55
Volume: 
36
Issue: 
1
Journal Name: 
Youth & Society