Cross‐national comparisons of attitudes towards suicide and suicidal persons in university students from 12 countries

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a comparative investigation of attitudes to suicide and suicidal persons in 5,572 university students from 12 countries. Participants filled out two scales measuring attitudes towards suicide and suicidal persons, a measure of psychological distress together with the questions about suicidal behavior. Results showed that the highest suicide acceptance scores were observed in Austrian, UK, Japanese and Saudi Arabian samples and the lowest scores were noted in Tunisian, Turkish, Iranian and Palestinian samples. While the highest social acceptance scores for a suicidal friend were noted in Turkish, US, Italian and Tunisian samples, the lowest scores were seen in Japanese, Saudi Arabian, Palestinian and Jordanian samples. Compared to participants with a suicidal past, those who were never suicidal displayed more internal barriers against suicidal behavior. Men were more accepting of suicide than women but women were more willing to help an imagined suicidal peer. Participants with accepting attitudes towards suicide but rejecting attitudes towards suicidal persons reported more suicidal behavior and psychological distress, and were more often from high suicide rate countries and samples than their counterparts. They are considered to be caught in a fatal trap in which most predominant feelings of suicidality such as hopelessness or helplessness are likely to occur. We conclude that in some societies such as Japan and Saudi Arabia it might be difficult for suicidal individuals to activate and make use of social support systems.

Nursing students' attitudes to suicide and suicidal persons: A cross‐national and cultural comparison between Turkey and the United Kingdom

“…The results of this study add to existing research into suicidal behaviour and psychological distress in University Students by Eskin, Kujan, et al. () and Eskin, Sun, et al. ().…”

“…There is an increasing international interest in collaborative studies which focus on comparing students' attitudes, their prior experiences, judgements, perceptions of suicide, religiosity and cultural differences (Eskin, Kujan, et al., ; Eskin, Sun, et al., ; Eskin et al., , 2018). Three authors of these papers (LP, ME and CF) have contributed to this emerging body of work derived from 12 nations.…”

“…This scale has a five‐point Likert‐type response options ranging from “Completely disagree (1)” to “Completely agree (5).” A principle component analysis identified six factors: (1) Acceptability of suicide (sample item: Someone who has gone bankrupt has the right to kill him/herself); (2) Communicating psychological problems (sample item: People should tell their psychological problems to their friends); (3) Punishment after death (sample item: People who attempt suicide are going to be punished in the other world); (4) Suicide as a sign of mental illness (sample item: People who kill themselves by committing suicide are mentally ill); (5) Hiding suicidal behaviour (sample item: Families whose daughter or son attempts suicide should hide this from their neighbours); and (6) Open reporting and discussion of suicide (sample item: Suicide news should be written openly in the newspapers) that explained 76.97% of the total variance. This scale is validated both in English language and in Turkish language and is cited within a number of peer review publications (Eskin, ; Eskin et al., , ; Eskin, Kujan, et al., ; Eskin, Sun, et al., ).…”

“…Eskin's Social Reactions to Suicidal Persons Scale (E‐SRSPS) begins with a short description of “an imagined suicidal close friend” who decides to kill himself/herself and share it with the respondent. By means of 20 possible reactions to this friend, students were asked how they would react or feel on five‐point Likert scales ranging from “Completely disagree (1)” to “Completely agree (5)” (Eskin, ; Eskin et al., , ; Eskin, Kujan, et al., ; Eskin, Sun, et al., ). A principle component analysis identified four factors: (1) Social acceptance, sample item: If I was going to a movie or theatre I would ask if s/he wants to come along); (2) Disapproval of suicidal disclosure, sample item: I would be surprised that she/he revealed things that one usually does not; (3) Confronting attitudes, sample item: I would get angry with him/her because she/he had decided to take his/her life; and (4) Deterring attitudes, sample item: I would try to prevent him/her from taking his/her life) that explained 65.94% of the total variance.…”

“…Higher scores indicate more negative attitudes towards individuals with suicidal behaviour (Eskin, ; Eskin et al., ). Again this subscale is valid both in English language and in Turkish language (Eskin, ; Eskin et al., , ; Eskin, Kujan, et al., ; Eskin, Sun, et al., ).…”