Parental bonding and attitudes toward suicide among medical college students in Japan

Figures & data

Table 1 Items included in the six factor model of the Japanese version of the ATTS and descriptive data

Factors and items		Strongly agree or agree	Undecided	Disagree or strongly disagree
Right to suicide
Item 5	Suicide is an acceptable way to end incurable disease	16.9% (27/160)	18.1% (29/160)	65.0% (104/160)
Item 16	Situations in which the only solution is suicide	30.0% (48/160)	18.1% (29/160)	51.9% (83/160)
Item 29	Should get help to die, if people suffer from severe, incurable disease	16.9% (27/160)	27.5% (44/160)	55.6% (89/160)
Item 32	Can understand why people suffering from severe, incurable disease take their own lives	64.4% (103/160)	25.6% (41/160)	10.0% (16/160)
Item 34	Have a right to commit suicide	28.7% (46/160)	21.9% (35/160)	49.4% (79/160)
Item 36	Want to get help to die if I suffer from severe, incurable disease	10.6% (17/160)	17.5% (28/160)	71.9% (115/160)
Common occurrence
Item 14	Could kill myself out of loneliness	35.6% (57/160)	8.1% (13/160)	56.2% (90/160)
Item 15	Most people have thought about suicide	43.1% (69/160)	18.1% (29/160)	38.7% (62/160)
Item 17	Could talk about my suicide wish without meaning it	35.6% (57/160)	8.8% (14/160)	55.6% (89/160)
Item 28	Do not understand others’ wishes to commit suicide	41.2% (66/160)	31.9% (51/160)	26.9% (43/160)
Item 31	Anyone can commit suicide	88.8% (142/160)	6.3% (10/160)	5.0% (8/160)
Suicidal expression as mere threat
Item 12	People who make suicide threats rarely complete suicide	36.3% (58/160)	29.4% (47/160)	34.4% (55/160)
Item 33	People who talk about suicide do not actually take their lives	64.4% (103/160)	25.6% (41/160)	10.0% (16/160)
Unjustified behavior
Item 2	Suicide is never justified	58.1% (93/160)	18.8% (30/160)	23.1% (37/160)
Item 3	Suicide is the worst thing to do to relatives	72.5% (116/160)	13.1% (21/160)	14.4% (23/160)
Preventability/readiness to help
Item 1	Can always help those who are suicidal	16.9% (27/160)	33.1% (53/160)	50.0% (80/160)
Item 30	I am ready to help suicidal people	51.9% (83/160)	30.6% (49/160)	17.5% (28/160)
Item 37	Suicide is preventable	86.3% (138/160)	10.6% (17/160)	3.1% (5/160)
Impulsiveness
Item 4	Suicide attempts are impulsive	26.9% (43/160)	31.3% (50/160)	41.9% (67/160)
Item 10	Suicide is carried out after long-term consideration	30.0% (48/160)	48.1% (77/160)	21.9% (35/160)
Item 22	Suicide occurs, without prior warning	13.1% (21/160)	26.9% (43/160)	60.0% (96/160)

Abbreviation: ATTS, Attitudes Toward Suicide questionnaire.

Table 2 Pearson correlations among psychological variables

Variables	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)
(1) Paternal care (PBI)	–
(2) Paternal protection (PBI)	−0.362**	–
(3) Maternal care (PBI)	0.351**	−0.350**	–
(4) Maternal protection (PBI)	−0.405**	0.499**	−0.441**	–
(5) Right to suicide (ATTS)	0.155*	−0.127	0.215*	−0.163*	–
(6) Common occurrence (ATTS)	0.109	−0.104	0.177*	−0.020	0.299**	–
(7) Suicidal expression as mere threat (ATTS)	0.042	0.014	−0.003	0.001	0.079	−0.008	–
(8) Unjustified behavior (ATTS)	−0.103	−0.002	−0.072	0.063	−0.319**	−0.071	0.013	–
(9) Preventability/readiness to help (ATTS)	0.067	−0.038	−0.057	0.045	−0.238*	0.007	−0.012	0.100	–
(10) Impulsiveness (ATTS)	−0.030	0.079	0.024	−0.074	0.042	−0.064	0.139	0.261**	0.028	–

Notes:

* P<0.05;

** P<0.001.

Abbreviations: PBI, Parental Bonding Instrument; ATTS, Attitudes Toward Suicide questionnaire.

Table 3 Multiple regression analysis of ATTS sub-scales with PBI scores

	Independent variables		Multiple regression statistics
			B	SE	Beta	t value	P-value
Right to suicide	Age		0.055	0.087	0.049	0.624	0.534
	Sex		−1.156	0.777	−0.117	−1.487	0.139
	Paternal	Care	0.026	0.055	0.043	0.474	0.636
		Protection	0.004	0.076	0.005	0.055	0.956
	Maternal	Care	0.117	0.061	0.168	1.913	0.058
		Protection	−0.079	0.073	−0.103	−1.080	0.282
Common occurrence	Age		0.060	0.069	0.068	0.864	0.389
	Sex		−0.845	0.615	−0.108	−1.374	0.171
	Paternal	Care	0.028	0.043	0.059	0.646	0.519
		Protection	−0.018	0.060	−0.028	−0.301	0.764
	Maternal	Care	0.142	0.048	0.260	2.940	<0.05
		Protection	0.073	0.058	0.120	1.256	0.211
Suicidal expression as mere threat	Age		−0.048	0.035	−0.111	−1.359	0.176
	Sex		0.224	0.314	0.058	0.713	0.477
	Paternal	Care	0.014	0.022	0.058	0.619	0.537
		Protection	0.013	0.031	0.040	0.423	0.673
	Maternal	Care	−0.004	0.025	−0.016	−0.180	0.858
		Protection	−0.005	0.030	−0.017	−0.174	0.862
Unjustified behavior	Age		0.019	0.038	0.041	0.507	0.613
	Sex		−0.484	0.335	−0.117	−1.446	0.150
	Paternal	Care	−0.028	0.024	−0.110	−1.182	0.239
		Protection	−0.017	0.033	−0.049	−0.520	0.604
	Maternal	Care	−0.018	0.026	−0.062	−0.689	0.492
		Protection	0.001	0.032	0.002	0.025	0.980
Preventability/readiness to help	Age		−0.043	0.037	−0.093	−1.142	0.255
	Sex		−0.160	0.333	−0.039	−0.481	0.631
	Paternal	Care	0.011	0.024	0.046	0.488	0.626
		Protection	−0.014	0.032	−0.041	−0.429	0.668
	Maternal	Care	−0.006	0.026	−0.022	−0.238	0.812
		Protection	0.007	0.031	0.021	0.216	0.829
Impulsiveness	Age		−0.012	0.039	−0.026	−0.317	0.752
	Sex		0.001	0.345	0.000	0.004	0.997
	Paternal	Care	−0.017	0.024	−0.064	−0.682	0.496
		Protection	0.050	0.034	0.141	1.486	0.139
	Maternal	Care	0.015	0.027	0.050	0.548	0.584
		Protection	−0.048	0.033	−0.146	−1.483	0.140

Abbreviations: ATTS, Attitudes Toward Suicide questionnaire; PBI, Parental Bonding Instrument; SE, standard error.