Authors
Urška Arnautovska1, Onja T. Grad2
1Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Griffith University,
Brisbane, Australia 2University Psychiatric Hospital, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
Background: Only few studies have so far confirmed the clear connection of
attitudes toward suicide with prevalence of suicidal behavior, and there are several
contradictory findings on the balance of this relationship. Slovenia has long had a very high
suicide rate, including in the population of adolescents. Aims: To examine
attitudes of Slovene adolescents toward suicide and their connection to different suicide risk
factors. Methods: A questionnaire on attitudes toward suicide was given to 423
high school students from three regions based on the different regional suicide rates.
Results: The results proved our expectation of girls having more permissive
attitudes toward suicide than boys. Also, a permissive attitude was positively associated with
the majority of suicide risk factors. Conclusions: In the light of certain
limitations of the study we discuss the implications of the main finding, namely, that
permissive attitudes toward suicide are more likely a risk than a safety factor for suicidal
behavior.
Keywords
attitudes toward suicide, permissiveness, adolescents, suicide risk factor
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