Exposure to suicide and suicidality in Korea: Differential effects across men and women?

Min-Ah Lee, Seokho Kim and Eun-Jung Shim

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2013, vol. 59, issue 3, 224-231

Abstract: Background: Little is known about whether exposure to suicide within close social networks is associated with the suicidality in exposed individuals, and potential gender differences regarding this association. Aims: This study examines the effect of exposure to suicide on the suicidality in exposed individuals. Methods: The data were drawn from the 2009 Korean General Social Survey, a nationally representative interview survey. Suicidality was measured by the suicidality module in the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), with exposure to suicide being determined by asking about the experience of a failed or completed suicide attempt by a closely related person. Results: Exposure to the suicide of someone close was significantly associated with higher suicidality in exposed individuals. While the effect of a failed attempt became non-significant after controlling for psychological factors, that of exposure to a completed act of suicide remained significant. A subsample analysis by gender indicated a significant gender difference: with control for demographic and psychological factors, exposure to a completed suicide had a significant effect on the suicidality of females only. The effect of exposure to a failed attempt became non-significant both in males and females after controlling for other factors. Conclusions: Findings suggest the necessity of screening for prior exposure to suicide in suicide risk assessment and the need for gender-tailored suicide-prevention strategies.

Keywords: Behavioural contagion; depression; exposure to suicide; gender; suicidality; social network (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:59:y:2013:i:3:p:224-231

DOI: 10.1177/0020764012441296

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