Collegiate Attitudes toward Suicide: New Zealand and United States

Attitudes toward suicide, as assessed by the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire (SOQ), were evaluated in samples of New Zealand ( N = 236) and United States ( N = 248) college students. Substantial differences were found, with New Zealand students attitudinally perceiving to a greater degree a relationship between suicide and mental illness, perceiving suicide as less serious, agreeing with the right to take one's life, and seeing suicide in a more religious context and as a less impulsive, less “normal,” and more moral action.