Elizabeth Tautuiaki

Professor Gauss

Sociology

3 March 3009

Journal Review

The article I reviewed, “Sociologist says this month’s family murder-

suicides only the tip of the iceberg”, highlights some of the reasons families

and family members find themselves at the brink of suicide. It thoroughly

explains how families arrive at this point, moreover, it explains that not

much societal attention has been paid to this particular problem. The article

calls for society to pay attention to this issue because this is happening in

the world more often as of today, particularly with the economic downfall. A

family sociologist at the University of Buffalo said that this month’s murder-

suicides involving a family of four in Ohio and a family of five in California

may “just be at the tip of the iceberg.” The author wants to call attention to

this phenomenon because he believes that these instances will only increase

as the economy gets even worse. Another man from my reading by the

name of Sampson Blair says that, family murder-suicides are still relatively

uncommon, although he also expects an increase in such incidents over the

next few years because economic strain on families, “provokes depression

and desperation” (29). In my opinion, I agree with their findings and

predictions because families losing their homes, jobs and businesses,

become overwhelmed with the stressof not even being able to provide the

basics like putting food on the table. This creates a sense of helplessness
that can drive people to do desperate things and acts they might not

otherwise do. Consequently, violence becomes part of what comes out of the

financial problems. The stress coming from financial instability can result in

violent reactions by family members, which impacts the quality of family

relationships. Thus, family violence can increase, resulting in many negative

forms of abuse such as, “spousal abuse, child neglect, and other forms of

dysfunctional behavior like substance abuse” (29). The article states that

these problems always exist, but they begin to worsen in periods of

economic depression. At these times there’s an increase in the overall

suicide rates connected with the job losses. People start to lose jobs, hence

their self esteem levels drop, which causes them to give up with some

people turning to suicide as their problem solver. Blair points out that many

parents experiencing job losses are also dealing with the pressure and

responsibility that goes along with being a spouse or a parent. These

pressures are doubled when talking about single parent households, many of

whom work minimum wages to support their kids, trying to provide food,

clothes, shelter, healthcare, and enough attention for their kids. The article

wants to emphasize that in today’s world of these everyday pressures, just

one big loss, like the loss of a job can turn normally functional people down a

dark path in their lives which can be alcohol, drugs, abuse, violence and

possibly suicide. This article made me think about what I had read in my

Sociology text which states that suicide rates are much higher among whites.

Although the article did not state which ethnicities of families experience
these murder-suicides more often, I would guess that the rates would be

similar with more murder-suicides among white families than among families

of color. The sociology text says whites tend to commit suicide at higher

rates because of their lack of cultural and family connections. It’s interesting

to me that white people have the highest suicide rate although at the same

time they are some of the wealthiest people on earth. All things considered,

the author of the article wants to draw attention to the incidences of suicide,

or worse, murder, especially because it hasn’t received a lot of attention

among family researches, “because it is a relatively uncommon occurrence”,

but he believes these instances could begin to increase with the coming

economic storm.

Citations

University at Buffalo; Sociologist says this month's family murder-suicides only 'the tip of the

iceberg'. (2009, March). NewsRx Health & Science,232. Retrieved March 3, 2009, from Sciences

Module database. (Document ID: 1651802911).