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Youth Suicide Risk Factors and Attitudes in New York and Vienna: A Cross‐Cultural Comparison
Author(s) -
Dervic Kanita,
Gould Madelyn S.,
Lenz Gerhard,
Kleinman Marjorie,
AkkayaKalayci Tuerkan,
Velting Drew,
Sonneck Gernot,
Friedrich Max H.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1521/suli.2006.36.5.539
Subject(s) - seriousness , suicide prevention , sociocultural evolution , context (archaeology) , psychology , poison control , psychiatry , medicine , clinical psychology , medical emergency , sociology , geography , political science , archaeology , law , anthropology
The prevalence of suicide risk factors and attitudes about suicide and help‐seeking among New York and Viennese adolescents were compared in order to explore possible cross‐cultural differences. Viennese adolescents exhibited higher rates of depressive symptomatology than their New York counterparts and had more first‐hand experience with suicidal peers. More attribution of suicide to mental illness was reported in Vienna; yet Viennese youth were less likely than New York adolescents to recognize the seriousness of suicide threats. Help‐seeking patterns of Viennese adolescents were influenced by their setting a high value on confidentiality. These cross‐cultural differences may reflect the limited exposure of Austrian youth to school‐based suicide prevention programs. The findings highlight the need of taking the sociocultural context into consideration in the planning of youth suicide prevention strategies.