The Stigma of Dying: Attitudes toward the Terminally Ill

Abstract

The objective of this study is to explore whether the terminally ill role is conceptualized as disvalued. Using a range of semantic differential adjectives, 233 college students indicated their attitudes toward young and old people who were healthy, ill, or terminally ill. Analysis of mean scores, Pearson correlations between summary scores, and factor analyses of the underlying pattern of response, support the following conclusions. First, within both young and old categories, attitudes toward each state of health category separate into three factors: attitudes toward healthy, ill, and dying persons. Second, within each health category, attitudes separate into two factors, identified as attitudes toward the young, and attitudes toward the old. The negative attitudes toward the dying are indicative of the terminally ill as stigmatized.