SUICIDE in RURAL & REMOTE AREAS of AUSTRALIA - Living is for ...

Suicide in rural and remote areas of Australia 57
Social support
Analyses using the Bille-Brahe Social Support
Scale showed that, compared to the sudden-death
controls, suicide victims received less moral support
than they needed from family and friends in both
regions (Table 16). In urban areas, giving less moral
support than needed to family and friends came
out as a signifi cant predictor of suicide. However,
there were no signifi cant differences in receiving
and giving practical support. The analyses did not
show signifi cant differences between urban and
rural suicide victims.
Physical health
Using the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living
Scale, the analyses did not fi nd differences between
the physical health of the suicide and sudden-death
control groups in either region (Table 17). The
Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS) and the
Physical Self Maintenance Scale showed higher
impairments in the sudden-death controls within
urban regions. However, there were no differences
in rural regions.
Personality
Compared to sudden-death controls, suicide victims
had signifi cantly higher neuroticism and signifi cantly
lower agreeableness in both areas (Table 17).
Extraversion was signifi cantly lower in suicide cases,
compared to sudden-death controls, in urban areas
but not in rural areas. The only signifi cant difference
between rural and urban suicide cases was in the
neuroticism score, which was higher in rural suicide
cases compared to urban suicide cases (mean
score 31.6 in rural suicide cases and 28.3 in rural
controls; t-test=2.30, p=0.023).
The Overt Aggression Scale showed signifi cantly
higher aggression scores in suicide cases, compared
to sudden-death controls, in both regions (Table
17). The general aggression score was signifi cantly
higher in rural suicide victims compared to urban
suicide victims (mean score 7.6 in rural suicide
cases and 5.8 in urban suicide cases; t-test=3.50,
p=0.001).
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