Alaska Rep. Don Young is getting criticized for controversial comments he made this week about suicide in his state, which has the highest per capita suicide rate in the country according to Politico.

Young spoke at an assembly at Wasilla High School on Tuesday, five days after a student there killed himself. The congressman discussed how alcohol and depression can contribute to suicide, before naming a lack of support from family and friends as a cause, upsetting many in attendance, witnesses told Alaska Dispatch News.

"When I heard 'a lack of support from family' and I heard 'a lack of support from friends,' I felt the oxygen go out of the room, but I gasped as well," Amy Spargo, the school's principal, said. "It just isn't true in these situations. It's just such a hurtful thing to say."

Young also reportedly used either the term "a**hole" or "smarta**" in his speech.

On Wednesday, the Republican spoke at the Mat-Su Senior Center, where he blamed high suicide rates on government handouts.

"This suicide problem didn't exist until we got largesse from the government," he said according to audio acquired by his Democratic challenger Forrest Dunbar's campaign, Politico reports. "When people had to work, and had to provide and had to keep warm by putting participation in cutting the wood and catching the fish and killing the animals, we didn't have the suicide problem. It comes from the largesse of saying you're not worth anything but you're going to get something for nothing."

Young added that today's society "coddles people."

In addition, the congressman criticized Wasilla High School.

"I'm very upset with the school system that would take the side of individuals that are being disrespectful to their fellow students," he said.

Dunbar has released a statement about Young's comments, saying the Republican "will not change."

"In the last two days I have gone from shocked, to saddened, to angered," Dunbar said in a statement. "If Don Young honestly believes that the suicide crisis in Alaska is because of public assistance programs, and he also believes that Wasilla High administrators were 'coddling' students dealing with the death of a classmate, then he is completely out of touch,"

Spokesman Matthew Shuckerow has released a statement apologizing for Young's Tuesday remarks but made no mention of his comments at the senior center.

"Congressman Young was very serious and forthright when discussing the issue of suicide, in part because of the high number of tragedies that affect Alaskan youth," he said. "In no way did Congressman Young mean to upset anyone with his well-intentioned message. In light of the tragic events affecting the Wasilla High School community, he should have taken a much more sensitive approach."

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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