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Industry: Email Alert RSS FeedAttitudes and beliefs about suicidal behavior when coming out is the precipitant of the suicidal behavior
Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, Nov, 2003 by Jennifer Ellen Cato, Silvia Sara Canetto
There is clearly insufficient information on cultural beliefs and attitudes about suicidal behavior in LGB youths. The present study is aimed at beginning to fill this gap in knowledge. We focused on young adults' reactions to a suicidal decision when coming out and being rejected by one's parents was the precipitant of the suicidal act. We compared attitudes about suicidal behavior in the coming out situation to attitudes about suicidal behavior following other well-researched precipitants (i.e., a physical illness, a relationship loss, and an academic failure). To enhance comparisons with past studies, we also explored how evaluations of the suicidal decision may vary depending on the sex of the suicidal person, the respondent's sex, and the respondent's gender identity. One expectation was that suicidal behavior precipitated by the stress of coming out would be viewed in relatively understanding terms, as is the case for suicidal behavior following a physical illness. On the basis of past studies, we also expected that women and androgynous individuals would be more critical of the suicidal decision than would men and other gender-identity types (i.e., undifferentiated, conventionally masculine, or conventionally feminine individuals).
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METHOD
Participants
Two-hundred and thirty-seven women and 219 men participated in the study. The average age of these participants was 20 years (SD = 2.01). Ninety-seven percent described their sexual orientation as heterosexual, and the other 3% described themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered. The majority of participants were single and unattached (72%). Most respondents (83%) were of European American descent. The remaining group described their ethnicity as Hispanic (5%), American Indian/Native American (3%), other (3%), Asian American (2%), or African American (1%). Most respondents were either Roman Catholic (23%) or Protestant (20%). The rest of the participants reported "other" religious beliefs (26%) or no current religious beliefs (25%).
Stimulus Materials
Attitudes toward suicidal behavior were assessed via the Suicide Attitude Vignette Experience (SAVE; Stillion, McDowell, & Shamblin, 1984), Form A, as modified by Dahlen and Canetto (2002). The vignettes describe a young person engaging in nonfatal suicidal behavior following adversities likely to be challenging for young adults: an incurable physical illness, an academic failure, and the loss of an intimate relationship. The SAVE has been reported to have good reliability and validity (Stillion & Stillion, 1998-1999). One additional vignette about a LGB situation was created based on the LGB literature (D'Augelli, Hershberger, & Pilkington, 1998; Rotheram-Borus & Fernandez, 1995). This vignette described a young person engaging in nonfatal suicidal behavior after coming out to, and then being rejected by her/his parents. The vignettes varied on two dimensions, the precipitant of the suicidal behavior (four levels) and the sex of the suicidal person (two levels), for a total of eight vignettes.
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