Attitudes Toward Suicide and Suicide Prevention Among College Students in South Korea and the United States

Abstract

Public attitudes toward suicide and suicide prevention can partially account for the prevalence of suicide within a population. The current study compares such attitudes among three culturally distinct groups of college students: Non-Korean students in the United States, Korean students in the United States, and Korean students in South Korea. As expected, the results revealed significant group differences in the majority of the attitude areas. Most notably, Korean students in South Korea reported more permissive attitudes toward suicide than Non-Korean students in the United States. Gender did not have an effect on any attitudes except regarding the right to prevent suicide, and there were no interactions between group and gender. The implications of these findings on suicide prevention are discussed. Keywords: attitudes, suicide, prevention, South Korea, United States