Social reactions of Swedish and Turkish adolescents to a close friend's suicidal disclosure

Background: The prevalence of nonfatal suicidal behavior has been shown to be equal in Swedish and Turkish adolescents. but more Swedish than Turkish adolescents kill themselves. Social attitudes towards self-killing are libe ral/permissive in Sweden compared to condemnatory/prohibiting attitudes in Turkey. Against this background, this study investigated Swedish and Turkis h adolescents' reactions to a close friend's suicidal disclosure. It also c ompared students' beliefs about whether or not the suicidal friend needed t reatment. and their perceptions of mental illness in, and prognosis for, th e suicidal friend. Method: A questionnaire was used to assess adolescents' attitudes towards a hypothetical close friend who discloses his/her suicida l plan. Results. Swedish students were more accepting of a suicidal friend, but were also more disapproving of a suicidal disclosure by a close friend , than their Turkish peers. Turkish students, on the other hand, were more emotionally involved with. and took more responsibility for, a suicidal clo se friend than their Swedish counterparts. Conclusions: Due to disapproving social altitudes towards suicidal disclosures in Sweden compared to Turkey , persons undergoing suicidal crises in Sweden may choose not to communicat e their suicidal intent, and hence can not make use of social support syste ms to combat personal crises of a suicidal nature.