Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1991, 7 2 , 1018. O Perceptual and Motor Skills 1991
ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT SUICIDE AND JUDGMENTS ABOUT SUICIDE ' DAVID LESTER
Richard Stockton State College Summary.-In a study of 136 college smdents, having more accurate knowledge about suicide was associated with viewing suicide more often as rational and less often as moral.
Leenaars, Balance, Pellarin, Aversano, Magli, and Wenckstern (1988) published a 16-item inventory containing facts and myths about suicide. This inventory was administered anonymously to 67 male and 69 female students enrolled in an introductory psychology course (M,, = 19.3 yr., SD = 1.8). In addition, each subject was given five motives for suicide (the person finds he is dying from cancer, the person has suffered a financial loss and will end up in poverty, the person's spouse has left him and the spouse feels unable to live without the mate, the person is severely psychiatrically depressed and may have to go into a psychiatric hospital, and the person has committed a very serious crime and fears arrest and imprisonment). Some subjects were asked to rate each motive as moral versus immoral while others were asked to rate each as rational versus irrational. The more often subjects rated the five motives as moral, the less knowledge they had about suicide (Pearson r = -0.27, p < .05), whereas the more often they rated the motives as rational the more knowledge they had about suicide ( r = 0.22, p < .05). O n an analysis of variance the over-all judgment of the five motives for suicide was not related to sex or the type of judgment. I n this study, having more accurate knowledge about suicide was associated with viewing suicide as more rational and less moral. REFERENCE LEENAARS, A. A,, BALANCE, W. D., PELLARTN, S., AVERSANO, G., MAGLI,A,, & WENCKSTERN, S. Facts and myths of suicide in Canada. Death Studies, 1988, 12, 195-206. Accepted May 22, 1991
'Address correspondence to David Lester, Ph.D., Psychology Program, Richard Stockton State College, Pomona, NJ 08240-9988.
ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT SUICIDE AND JUDGMENTS ABOUT SUICIDE ' DAVID LESTER
Richard Stockton State College Summary.-In a study of 136 college smdents, having more accurate knowledge about suicide was associated with viewing suicide more often as rational and less often as moral.
Leenaars, Balance, Pellarin, Aversano, Magli, and Wenckstern (1988) published a 16-item inventory containing facts and myths about suicide. This inventory was administered anonymously to 67 male and 69 female students enrolled in an introductory psychology course (M,, = 19.3 yr., SD = 1.8). In addition, each subject was given five motives for suicide (the person finds he is dying from cancer, the person has suffered a financial loss and will end up in poverty, the person's spouse has left him and the spouse feels unable to live without the mate, the person is severely psychiatrically depressed and may have to go into a psychiatric hospital, and the person has committed a very serious crime and fears arrest and imprisonment). Some subjects were asked to rate each motive as moral versus immoral while others were asked to rate each as rational versus irrational. The more often subjects rated the five motives as moral, the less knowledge they had about suicide (Pearson r = -0.27, p < .05), whereas the more often they rated the motives as rational the more knowledge they had about suicide ( r = 0.22, p < .05). O n an analysis of variance the over-all judgment of the five motives for suicide was not related to sex or the type of judgment. I n this study, having more accurate knowledge about suicide was associated with viewing suicide as more rational and less moral. REFERENCE LEENAARS, A. A,, BALANCE, W. D., PELLARTN, S., AVERSANO, G., MAGLI,A,, & WENCKSTERN, S. Facts and myths of suicide in Canada. Death Studies, 1988, 12, 195-206. Accepted May 22, 1991
'Address correspondence to David Lester, Ph.D., Psychology Program, Richard Stockton State College, Pomona, NJ 08240-9988.
