Features of common representations of suiciders in young people

Abstract

We discuss the first phase results of a research project dedicated to study of suicide representations in youth. In the framework of structural approach to social representations, we study features of structure and content of social representations of suiciders in two groups of young people (the criterion for group allocation was their acquaintance with people who has suicide attempts). Our sample (N = 106) consisted of representatives of several youth groups (students and working youths with specialized secondary, higher or incomplete higher education), aged 18 to 35 years (M = 23,48 years, SD = 4,36 years): 67 women and 39 men. The 1st group includes respondents personally acquainted with suicide attempters (44 respondents), the 2nd group – respondents without such experience. The subject of research were common representations of suiciders. We tested assumptions about the specificity of protective functions of social representations, as well as consistency of representations in the two groups of respondents.

Keywords

• suicide
• social representations theory
• structure of representation
• youth