Attitudes toward Suicide: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Singaporean and Australian University Students

Abstract

The Suicide Opinion Questionnaire (SOQ), a measure of attitudes toward suicide, was administered to two samples of university students, one from Singapore (n = 100) and one from Australia (n = 82). Of the fifteen SOQ factors, ten showed statistically significant mean differences, with Singaporean students endorsing greater disagreement on the factors of Acceptability and Demographic aspects, and Australian students endorsing greater disagreement on the factors of Suicide as semiserious, Religion, Lethality, Normality, Irreversibility, Aging, Individual Aspects, and Sensation seeking. A regression analysis of the SOQ factors as related to self-reported religiosity indicated that for the Singaporean students religious attendance was related to the SOQ factors of Acceptability, Mental and Moral Illness, and Lethality, while self-reported degree of religiosity was related to the SOQ factor of Religion. For the Australian students degree of religiosity was related to the SOQ factors of Acceptability, Mental and Moral Illness, and Religion.