Description:
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