title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Adnan Menderes University, Aydin, Turkey. meskin48@gmail.com, eskin_mehmet@yahoo.com.tr.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eskin
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Sciences, Al-Farabi College for Dentistry and Nursing, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kujan
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Voracek
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, West Bank, Palestine.
authors.forename: Amira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shaheen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Clinical and Molecular Medicine, University of Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro Giovanni
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Carta
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and School of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, City University of London, UK.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Flood
authors.affiliation: School of Behavioral Sciences and Education, Pennsylvania State University-Harrisburg, Middletown, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Senel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Poyrazli
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Janghorbani
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene, School of Medicine, Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Kouichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshimasu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University hospital of Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Anwar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mechri
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Public Health and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science & Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
authors.forename: Yousef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Khader
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University hospital of Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Khouala
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aidoudi
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Seifollah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bakhshi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology, Adnan Menderes University, Aydin, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hacer
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Harlak
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Al-Quds University, Jerusalem, Palestine.
authors.forename: Muna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahmead
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Clinical and Molecular Medicine, University of Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Francesca
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Moro
authors.affiliation: Princess Aisha Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University, Ma'an, Jordan.
authors.forename: Hani
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nawafleh
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, City University of London, UK.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdulwahab
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abuderman
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Ulrich S
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene, School of Medicine, Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Kanami
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsuno
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D013405:Suicide; D013406:Suicide, Attempted; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Suicidal attitudes; cross-national; suicide attempt; suicide ideation