Attitudes toward Suicide Survivors as a Function of Survivors' Relationship to the Victim

Abstract

This study examined attitudes toward suicide survivors. Two variables were assessed: the impact of information on attitudes toward suicide survivors and whether the survivor's relationship to the victim affects the attitudes of others towards the survivor. Sixty participants responded to one of three fictional case histories that described a child's suicide, a spouse's suicide, or a parent's suicide. Prior to reading case vignettes, thirty of the participants read an article about suicide; the other thirty read death-related but not suicide-related materials. Results indicated that suicide information did not affect attitudes toward survivors. Further results indicated that reactions to suicide survivors are generally negative and the relationship of survivors to victims affects these reactions. Children of victims were seen least negatively; parents of a child who died by suicide received the most negative reactions.