A Comparative Study of Permissive Attitudes Toward Suicide : An Analysis of Cross-National Survey in South Korea, Japan, and the United States.
- Author:
C Hyung Keun PARK
1
;
Bora KIM
;
Sang Sin LEE
;
Kyooseob HA
;
Chang Jae BAEK
;
Min Sup SHIN
;
Yong Min AHN
Author Information
1. Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea. aym@snu.ac.kr
- Publication Type:Comparative Study ; Original Article
- Keywords:
Suicide;
Permissiveness;
Factor analysis;
Comparative study
- MeSH:
Adult;
Demography;
Education;
Electronic Mail;
Factor Analysis, Statistical;
Health Services Needs and Demand;
Humans;
Japan*;
Korea*;
Marital Status;
Middle Aged;
Permissiveness;
Suicide*;
United States*
- From:Journal of the Korean Society of Biological Psychiatry
2016;23(4):157-165
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVES: There were previous studies which indicated that attitude toward suicide is able to influence the suicide outcome in both individual and group levels. In regard to the highest suicide rate in Korea, our study aims to explore the influence that attitude toward suicide has on suicide by comparing the national attitude towards suicide with a representative sample of the general population. METHODS: The target population was 20- to 59-year-old adults from South Korea, Japan, and the United States. The panel data were divided according to gender, age, and residential area of individuals, and an email with a hyperlink to our web survey was sent to the randomly selected participants in each stratum. To measure the perceptual differences about suicide in different cultures, this study adopted the Attitudes Toward Suicide questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 2247 subjects in three countries participated in this study. According to results from factor analysis, there were different structure of factors and included items within factors in the three countries : five factors with nineteen items in South Korea, five factors with nineteen items in the United States, and five factors with twenty-five items in Japan. With regard to permissive attitude toward suicide, the mean value of permissiveness was not significantly different among countries, but permissiveness according to education level, gender, and marital status was different in each country. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first nationwide comparative study about attitude toward suicide with a representative sample. Our findings suggest that permissive attitude toward suicide influence the suicide phenomenon in each country ; however, its impact is not a mean score of permissiveness, but the detailed difference by various demographics.
