An Examination of the Relationship between Attitude toward Suicide and Views on Life and Death among University Students

Abstract

To clarify Japanese university students' attitude toward suicide and to relate it with their views on life and death, a questionnaire survey was conducted for 1, 366 students of University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa Prefecture in 1992 The major findings were as follows.1. The subjects who had thought about suicide (called "suicide awareness" group) accounted for 6.3% ; compared between the students from Okinawa and those from other prefectures this rate was significantly higher in the latter (p<0.01).2. The suicide awareness group thought about death earlier in their lives and had more positive attitude toward death such as "release from suffering, " "beautiful" and "peaceful" than other two groups.3. The association between attitude toward suicide and consciousness about death in the homeland was recognized by the suicide awareness group (a half of the students) more than by other two groups (p<0.001) and the suicide awareness group showed higher proportions in justification of suicide (p<0.001) and in courageous behavior for suicide (p<0.05).4. Compared with other two groups, the suicide awareness group had a higher proportion in positive feeling on the effect of religion on death (p<0.001) and a lower proportion in belief of metempsychosis (remigration of souls) (p<0.001).5. Regarding the association with terminal situation, the suicide awareness group showed a higher proportion in recognition of cerebral death as human death (p<0.001) and differed from other two groups in desired place at death and desired treatment in the terminal period.