title: [The acceptance of suicide motives--a key for understanding the differences of national suicide rates?].
abstract: National suicide rates differ to a high extent. Tentative explanations for this finding reach from macro-social to population-genetic models. Still unexplored is the influence of cultural values, i.e. the association between the acceptance of suicide motives in a population and the national suicide rates. The goal of this study was the development and evaluation of a questionnaire on the acceptance of suicide motives (ASM), an instrument which will be used for transcultural psychiatric research in a multi-centre study. Additionally the first results of a trial with 153 healthy Austrians are presented. Test-Retest reliability of the five scales ranged from r=0.74 after to r=0.89 for 3 months interval. The internal consistency of scales was very good (Cronbachs Alpha 0.71 after to 0.88). The Austrians especially accept motives associated with physical frailty or guilt feelings and less those associated with shame. The acceptance of suicide motives relatively stable in terms of age and gender. Thus, the ASM seems to be suited as an instrument for cultural comparative studies on the detection of reasons of national suicide rates.
authors.affiliation: Krankenhaus Hietzing mit Neurologischem Zentrum Rosenhügel Wien. kristina.ritter@chello.at
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ritter
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stompe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001317:Austria; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D012752:Shame; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires