Suicide literacy, suicide stigma, and psychological help seeking attitudes among Arab youth

Abstract

To date, very little is known about the current situation of suicide and its effects on psychological help-seeking attitudes in Arab countries. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the levels of suicide literacy and suicide stigma and their relationships with attitudes towards seeking psychological help among a sample of Arab youth in Jordan. A descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional study was conducted using an anonymous online self-report survey to collect data. This study included a total of 707 Arab youth aged 16-24 years (mean = 18.60, SD = 1.95). Most of the participants were male (n = 398, 56.3%). The participants were found to have very low suicide literacy levels, relatively high suicide stigma levels, and negative attitudes towards seeking psychological help. Family members, relatives, and friends were the most frequently reported sources of psychological help, while mental healthcare professionals were the least frequently reported sources. A significant negative correlation was found between attitudes towards seeking psychological help and both stigmatization and glorification subscales of suicide stigma. While a significant positive correlation was found between attitudes towards seeking psychological help and suicide literacy. The predictors of attitudes towards seeking psychological help were gender, suicide literacy, and glorification of suicide stigma among Arab youth. The results of this study confirm the presence of an urgent need for designing and implementing educational programs and awareness campaigns on suicide and mental health among youth in schools and universities. Such interventions may increase knowledge, decrease stigma, change psychological help-seeking attitudes, and hence improve the use of mental health services and may prevent suicide among this age group.

Keywords: Arab; Attitudes; Jordan; Mental health; Stigma; Suicide; Youth.