<p>Suicide research has a long tradition within sociology. Parallel to the Durkheimian tradition, seeking the causes of suicide in societal factors, a more cultural understanding of suicide has been emphasized. Attitudes to suicide have been stressed as important for the understanding of suicide mortality levels in different societies. For Russia, where suicide mortality levels are among the highest in the world, an understanding of this kind might be of particular importance.</p><p>Based on a survey study from Moscow 2004, attitudes to suicide were studied in relation to social, economic and demographic factors as well as to attitudes to other morally disputable behaviors. Suicide attitudes in different age and sex groups in the sample were further compared to suicide mortality levels in the corresponding groups in the population. Similarly to previous studies the young, the highly educated and the non-religious were more accepting towards suicide. Among the young and highly educated this seemed to be explained by a more accepting attitude generally towards morally disputable behaviors. However, controlling for these other attitudes a positive effect of lower education on suicide acceptability appeared. Differences in suicide attitudes between the genders seemed to be dependent on differences in other factors rather that on gender per se.</p><p>The comparison between suicide attitudes and suicide mortality levels in different groups showed no positive relations. Suicide mortality is probably more affected by social, economic and demographic factors. However, attitudes to suicide might be crucial to whether a person commits suicide in a given situation or not. An increased understanding of attitudes to suicide in Russia might therefore be of major importance.</p> / <p>Forskningen kring självmord har en lång tradition inom sociologin. Vid sidan av den durkheimska traditionen, som söker orsaksrelationer mellan samhälleliga faktorer och självmordsdödlighet, har även självmordets kulturella betydelse betonats. Attityder till självmord har lyfts fram som en viktig faktor för förståelsen av självmordsdödlighetsnivån i olika samhällen. För Ryssland, vars självmordsdödlighet är bland de högsta i världen, är en sådan förståelse av särskild vikt.</p><p>Baserat på en intervjuundersökning utförd i Moskva 2004 studerades inställningen till självmord i relation till sociala, ekonomiska och demografiska faktorer samt till andra moraliska ställningstaganden. Vidare jämfördes attityder till självmord i olika ålders- och könsgrupper i urvalet och självmordsdödligheten i motsvarande grupper i populationen. I likhet med tidigare studier var det i högre utsträckning de unga, de icke-religiösa samt de högutbildade som var mer accepterande gentemot självmord. Bland de unga och högutbildade verkade detta samband förklaras av en mer accepterande inställning i moraliska frågor. När ställningstaganden i andra moraliska frågor konstanthölls framträdde en positiv effekt av lägre utbildning. Skillnader i attityder mellan könen verkade bero på skillnader i andra egenskaper än könstillhörigheten i sig.</p><p>Jämförelsen mellan attityder till självmord och självmordsdödlighet i olika grupper gav inget positivt resultat. Självmordsdödligheten påverkas förmodligen i högre grad av sociala, ekonomiska och demografiska faktorer än attityder till självmord. Attityder till självmord kan dock vara avgörande för huruvida en individ begår självmord i en given situation. En ökad förståelse för självmordsattityder i Ryssland är därför av yttersta vikt.</p>

Suicide research has a long tradition within sociology. Parallel to the Durkheimian tradition, seeking the causes of suicide in societal factors, a more cultural understanding of suicide has been emphasized. Attitudes to suicide have been stressed as important for the understanding of suicide mortality levels in different societies. For Russia, where suicide mortality levels are among the highest in the world, an understanding of this kind might be of particular importance. Based on a survey study from Moscow 2004, attitudes to suicide were studied in relation to social, economic and demographic factors as well as to attitudes to other morally disputable behaviors. Suicide attitudes in different age and sex groups in the sample were further compared to suicide mortality levels in the corresponding groups in the population. Similarly to previous studies the young, the highly educated and the non-religious were more accepting towards suicide. Among the young and highly educated this seemed to be explained by a more accepting attitude generally towards morally disputable behaviors. However, controlling for these other attitudes a positive effect of lower education on suicide acceptability appeared. Differences in suicide attitudes between the genders seemed to be dependent on differences in other factors rather that on gender per se. The comparison between suicide attitudes and suicide mortality levels in different groups showed no positive relations. Suicide mortality is probably more affected by social, economic and demographic factors. However, attitudes to suicide might be crucial to whether a person commits suicide in a given situation or not. An increased understanding of attitudes to suicide in Russia might therefore be of major importance. / Forskningen kring självmord har en lång tradition inom sociologin. Vid sidan av den durkheimska traditionen, som söker orsaksrelationer mellan samhälleliga faktorer och självmordsdödlighet, har även självmordets kulturella betydelse betonats. Attityder till självmord har lyfts fram som en viktig faktor för förståelsen av självmordsdödlighetsnivån i olika samhällen. För Ryssland, vars självmordsdödlighet är bland de högsta i världen, är en sådan förståelse av särskild vikt. Baserat på en intervjuundersökning utförd i Moskva 2004 studerades inställningen till självmord i relation till sociala, ekonomiska och demografiska faktorer samt till andra moraliska ställningstaganden. Vidare jämfördes attityder till självmord i olika ålders- och könsgrupper i urvalet och självmordsdödligheten i motsvarande grupper i populationen. I likhet med tidigare studier var det i högre utsträckning de unga, de icke-religiösa samt de högutbildade som var mer accepterande gentemot självmord. Bland de unga och högutbildade verkade detta samband förklaras av en mer accepterande inställning i moraliska frågor. När ställningstaganden i andra moraliska frågor konstanthölls framträdde en positiv effekt av lägre utbildning. Skillnader i attityder mellan könen verkade bero på skillnader i andra egenskaper än könstillhörigheten i sig. Jämförelsen mellan attityder till självmord och självmordsdödlighet i olika grupper gav inget positivt resultat. Självmordsdödligheten påverkas förmodligen i högre grad av sociala, ekonomiska och demografiska faktorer än attityder till självmord. Attityder till självmord kan dock vara avgörande för huruvida en individ begår självmord i en given situation. En ökad förståelse för självmordsattityder i Ryssland är därför av yttersta vikt.

Thesis advisor: Sara Moorman / In this thesis, I investigate if there are regional differences in suicide acceptability attitudes in the United States and what might explain these differences, namely political views or religious beliefs. I examine four suicide attitudes from the 2018 General Social Survey: whether a person has the right to die by suicide due to an incurable disease; bankruptcy; dishonoring one’s family; or being tired of living and ready to die. I draw upon a number of theories that discuss how one’s environment can influence their attitudes and how individuals form their attitudes in general. An individual from New England was found to be more accepting of suicide than someone from another region, and individual-level political and religious views were somewhat able to explain one’s suicide acceptability attitudes. Overall, regional differences in suicide attitudes do exist, perhaps helpful for future research to better understand differences in suicide rates around the country. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.

Virtually every mental health problem carries stigma, but suicide appears to run so counter to our accumulative, achievement-oriented society, that it poses even greater threat of stigma. While suicide is inherently troubling in that it opposes the fundamental human instinct for self-preservation, the tendency to stigmatize and reject individuals affected by suicide appears to be counterproductive and excessive. Hence, the purpose of this three-manuscript dissertation is to gain a more nuanced understanding of suicide attitudes from an exploratory and terror management theory perspective. More specifically, this dissertation attempts to answer three general questions: (1) how do suicide attitudes differ from other stigmatized deaths – namely, unintentional opioid overdose, (2) does death anxiety and baseline self-esteem impact attitudes toward suicide, and (3) can the effects of death anxiety on suicide attitudes be reversed by temporarily boosting self-esteem? To address the first question, Study 1 compares suicide attitudes to attitudes toward opioid overdose death – another type of stigmatized death that has emerged as a major public health issue in the U.S. in recent years. Study 2 addresses the second question by examining the effect of mortality salience on attitudes toward suicide and by investigating whether participants’ baseline self-esteem will moderate this effect, in keeping with the theory’s claim that self-esteem buffers against death anxiety. Building on the theoretical assumptions of the second study, Study 3 tests whether the effects of death anxiety on suicide attitudes can be reversed by temporarily bolstering the participant’s self-esteem using experimental manipulation. In other words, can cultural worldview validation and self-esteem enhancement inhibit the awareness of personal death and promote prosocial attitudes and behavior? All three proposed studies used quantitative research strategies to examine the research questions detailed above. Study 1 used a traditional questionnaire method to explore and compare attitudes toward suicide and drug overdose death; whereas Study 2 and 3 employed an experimental design to test the MS hypothesis on suicide attitudes. Participants were recruited online using an inexpensive crowdsourcing service called Amazon MTurk. Findings from these studies could have important implications for how we understand the psychological underpinnings of suicide stigma and contribute to the growing body of evidence of the role of existential mortality concerns in hostile attitudes and discriminatory behavior. Not only are we confronted with death reminders in our everyday lives, the topic of suicide is inherently a reminder of death – making the problem of death anxiety even more relevant and unavoidable. These findings could expand our understanding of how cultural worldview and self-esteem are relevant to mitigating death anxiety, and the relationship between death anxiety and suicide.

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