Suicide and attempted suicide among children and adolescents. A transcultural study.

Official statistics on suicides among children and adolescents in West Germany and Japan were used to compare transcultural social and psychiatric data on 108 German and 103 Japanese suicides and attempted suicides. This analysis revealed characteristic differences with respect to the following variables: ratio of attempted and accomplished suicide, age, method, integrating problems at school, alcohol and drug dependence, relationships with the opposite sex, broken homes, and number of friends. Based on these findings, the suicidal tendencies and social backgrounds of patients from both of these highly industrialized countries are discussed.