Attitudes towards suicide among regional politicians in Lithuania, Austria, Hungary, Norway and Sweden

The aim of this study was to compare attitudes towards suicide among regional politicians in five European countries, namely Austria, Hungary, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. Attitudes of politicians are important as they are key persons in a suicide prevention context. All these countries differ significantly with respect to suicide rates and suicide prevention strategies. Previous research has shown that more permissive attitudes towards suicide are prevalent in countries with higher rates of suicide. Thus, we would expect that regional politicians in these countries would hold rather different attitudes towards suicide. The Attitudes Towards Suicide questionnaire (ATTS) was employed in the study. The results indicated that the acceptance of suicide was higher among Lithuanian, Hungarian and Austrian politicians (high suicide rate, no national prevention strategies), than among Norwegian and Swedish politicians (relatively low suicide rates, national prevention strategies). The same split in attitudes between low and high suicide rate areas was found concerning preparedness to help a person in a suicidal crisis. The only significant difference between male and female politicians was found with respect to perceived preventability of suicide, with male politicians being slightly more optimistic than female politicians. Overall, the results of our study show that differences among countries in suicide rates and suicide prevention policies are reflected in attitudes of politicians.