Cultural Differences in Reactions to Suicidal Ideation: A Mixed Methods Comparison of Korea and Australia

Abstract

There is evidence for cultural differences in mental health symptoms and help-seeking, but no past research has explored cultural differences in how people react to suicidal ideation communicated by others. Layperson reactions are critical, because the majority of people who experience suicidal ideation disclose to friends or family. Participants were 506 people aged 17–65 recruited from Australia and Korea who completed an experiment in which they responded to a friend who was experiencing either subclinical distress or suicidal ideation. Korean participants did not differentiate between the subclinical and suicidal targets, whereas Australian participants showed more concern for the suicidal target. For both targets, Korean participants were more likely to recommend passive coping strategies (“Time will solve everything” or “Cheer up”), while Australian participants were more likely to recommend active coping strategies (“Let’s talk” or “See a doctor”). This study provides the first evidence of cultural differences in the way people typically respond to disclosures of suicidal ideation, and suggests that unhelpful and inappropriate recommendations are commonplace.

Keywords:

• help seeking
• coping strategies
• social support
• mental health
• depression

Notes

1 There was another experimental condition (a clinical depression vignette) also included in the experiment. However, this was not focal to our hypotheses in the current study and is discussed elsewhere (Cruwys, An, Chang, & Lee, 2018).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-2018S1A5A2A01028437], as well as the Australian Research Council [DE160100592].

Notes on contributors

Soontae An

Soontae An, Division of Communication and Media, College of Social Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.

Tegan Cruwys

Tegan Cruwys, Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601; School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072.

Hannah Lee

Hannah Lee, Soontae An, Division of Communication and Media, College of Social Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.

Melissa Xue-Ling Chang

Melissa Xue-Ling Chang, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072.