Adolescents' attitudes toward suicide, and a suicidal peer: a comparison between Swedish and Turkish high school students.
The present paper first presents the attitudes toward suicide and a suicidal classmate among 98 female and 69 male (N = 167) Swedish high school students. Secondly, the Swedish sample was compared with 167 (89 female and 78 male) Turkish high school students from a previous study. Among Swedish students, more males than females said that people have the right to commit suicide and suicide can be a solution to some problems. More females than males expressed a belief in life after death. Swedish adolescents were found to be holding more liberal attitudes toward suicide than Turkish adolescents. However, Turkish adolescents showed greater acceptance for a suicidal peer than Swedish adolescents. The results are discussed in terms of socio-cultural factors and related literature. The need for educational programs to provide basic knowledge about suicide and, effective ways of dealing with and helping suicidal peers is implicated.
Eskin
M
M
Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden.
D000293:Adolescent; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012945:Social Values; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*; D013548:Sweden; D014421:Turkey; D000092864:Suicide Prevention