Suicidal behavior as related to social support and assertiveness among Swedish and Turkish high school students: a cross-cultural investigation.

Among 652 Swedish and 654 Turkish adolescents, the study found that 61 Swedish (9.4%) and 71 Turkish (10.9%) adolescents reported that they had made previous suicide attempts. Previous psychiatric contact, female gender, low perceived family support, and suicide attempts in the family for the Swedish group and suicide attempts in the family, low perceived family support, psychiatric disorder in the family, and previous psychiatric contact variables in the Turkish sample were found to be associated with previous attempts. Low perceived family support, previous suicide attempts, low perceived peer support, female gender, previous psychiatric contact, low positive assertion skills, and a small number of friends for the Swedish; and low perceived family support, previous suicide attempts, low perceived peer support, suicide attempts in the family, and previous psychiatric contact variables for the Turkish group were found to be significant predictors of current suicidal risk.