“The Weight on Our Shoulders Is Too Much, and We Are Falling”

Abstract

Abstract This chapter begins with the suicide of a 16-year-old Inuit youth. There is a focus on Inuit youth suicide and culture change. The role of alcohol and marijuana is discussed, as is how families have been changing. Research throughout the world has found that suicidal youth often come from problematic families, including low levels of family cohesion, parent–child conflict and poor communication, low emotional intimacy, and youth perceptions of family problems. Family has been replaced by new patterns of community, and among Inuit, the most profound changes in the past few decades have been reported in gender roles, the marital relationship, and parent–child relations. Inuit youth began to manifest problems after the establishment of the settlements. Many of these problems are in romantic relationships. Suicides are described that have taken place in Silatuniq, the community that is the focus of this book.