Author/Editor		Schmidtke, Armin; Loehr, C; Weinacker, B; Bille-Brahe, U; DeLeo, D; Kerkhof, A; Crepet, P; Hjelmeland, H; Loennqvist, J; Michel, K
Title		Imitation of suicidal behaviour: a cross-cultural study
Type		članek
Source		In: Grad-Tekavčič O, editor. Suicide risk and protective factors in the new millennium. Ljubljana: Cankarjev dom,
Publication year		2001
Volume		str. 273-6
Language		eng
Abstract		Suicidal behaviour might also be learnt by a process of imitation. Therefore, knowledge of suicidal behaviour has frequently been regarded as a risk factor in the assessment of suicide risk. Learning by modelling depends on certain characteristics of the model, such as age, sex and social status, and the corresponding characteristics of the observer. The imitation effects also seem to depend on the frequency and scope of presenting a model. An analysis of data of 15 European centres participating in the repetition-prediction part of the WHO/EURO Multicentre study showed, that of all suicide attempters, 54 % reported at least one suicidal model (suicide or suicide attempt). Females reported models to a slightly higher percentage than males (55 % vs 52 %). Four percent of the males and females reported four or five suicidal models. For males, the type of suicidal behaviour of the latest model was in greater proportion (51 %) a suicide. In most of the cases the latest model for male and female suicide attempters was a friend or a colleague. More than every fourth suicide attempter had his or her contact with the model behaviour in a treatment facility. 23 % percent of the males and 27 % of the females were either physically present during the model act, in telephone contact with the model or contacted immediately before or after the model act.
Descriptors		SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIOR SUICIDE, ATTEMPTED SUICIDE SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON