Suicidal Thoughts, Attempts and Motives Among University Students in 12 Muslim-Majority Countries
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Date
2019-11-29Author
Eskin, Mehmet
AlBuhairan, Fadia
Rezaeian, Mohsen
Abdel-Khalek, Ahmed M.
Harlak, Hacer
El-Nayal, Mayssah
Asad, Nargis
Khan, Aqeel
Mechri, Anwar
Noor, Isa Multazam
Hamdan, Motasem
Isayeva, Ulker
Khader, Yousef
Al Sayyari, Alaa
Khader, Albaraa
Behzadi, Bahareh
Öztürk, Cennet Şafak
Hendarmin, Laifa Annisa
Khan, Murad Moosa
Khatib, Salam
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Show full item recordAbstract
There is a scarcity of research on suicidal phenomena in the Muslim world. Therefore, this
study aimed at investigating the self-reported prevalence of suicidal thoughts, attempts and
motives in 12 Muslim countries. A total of 8417 (54.4% women) university students were
surveyed by means of a self-report questionnaire. Overall, 22% of the participants reported
suicidal ideation and 8.6% reported attempting suicide. The odds of suicidal thoughts were
elevated in Azerbaijan, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, while reduced ORs were recorded in
Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Malaysia. While odds of suicide attempts were high in Azerbaijan,
Palestine and Saudi Arabia reduced odds ratios (OR) were detected in Indonesia, Iran,
Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia and Tunisia. Taking drugs and using a sharp instrument were the
two most frequently used methods to attempt suicide. Only 32.7% of attempts required
medical attention. Escape motives were endorsed more than social motives by participants
who attempted suicide. Suicidal behaviors were more frequent in women than in men.
Compered to men, fewer attempts by women required medical attention. Moreover, our results
show that making suicide illegal does not reduce the frequency of suicidal behavior. Results
from this comparative study show that suicidal thoughts and attempts are frequent events in
young adults in countries where religious scripture explicitly prohibit suicide and the frequencies
of nonfatal suicidal behavior show large variation in nations adhering to the same religion.