Knowledge about Suicide and Local Suicide Prevalence: Comparison of Estonia and Austria

Abstract

Knowledge about suicide might be positively correlated with local suicide prevalence. This hypothesis was tested with a sample of 107 medical and social science undergraduates from Estonia, a country with a high suicide rate, using Hubbard and McIntosh's 1992 Revised Facts on Suicide Quiz. Compared (independent-groups t tests) with a sample of undergraduates from Austria, which has a markedly lower suicide rate, Estonians presented significantly higher overall knowledge about suicide ( d = 0.39), particularly concerning demographic and epidemiological facts about suicide ( d = 0.77) but not pertaining to clinical and interpersonal knowledge contents ( d = −0.06). Study limitations and suggestions for extension of this preliminary inquiry are discussed.