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Attitudes 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

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Measures

Evaluations of the Suicidal Decision

Respondents were asked to evaluate the suicidal decision described in the vignette using 7-point Likert scales developed and validated by Deluty (1988-1989a, 1988-1989b), as adapted by Dahlen and Canetto (2002). These scales focused on the following dimensions: "wise-foolish," "right-wrong," "selfish-unselfish," "weak-strong," "brave-cowardly," and "active-passive." To reduce response set influences, the location of the positive adjectives was varied (e.g., "foolish-wise," "unselfish-selfish"). In addition, we used Deluty's 7-point scale to measure agreement with the decision to engage in suicidal behavior, as well as his 7-point scale to assess the acceptability of the suicidal decision. Finally, we included Stillion et al.'s 5-point scale to measure degree of sympathy for the suicidal decision (Stillion et al., 1989), but expanded it to 7 points and formatted it to fit with Deluty's scales.

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Gender Identity

Gender identity was measured with the short form of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ; Spence & Helmreich, 1978). The PAQ uses 5-point Likert-type items to evaluate agreement with bipolar personal attributes. It is composed of two 8-item subscales labeled Femininity (F) and Masculinity (M). The F subscale contains items perceived as desirable for women and men but more common among women (e.g., kindness and understanding). The M subscale includes items judged as positive for both women and men but more common in men (e.g., confidence and independence; Cook, 1985; Helmreich, Spence, & Wilhelm, 1981; Spence & Helmreich, 1978). The PAQ classifies respondents into one of four categories: feminine, masculine, androgynous, or undifferentiated. Feminine persons score high on the F subscale and low on the M subscale, and masculine persons score high on the M subscale and low on the F subscale. Androgynous persons score above the median on both the F and M subscales, and undifferentiated persons score below the median on both subscales. The psychometric properties of the PAQ have been particularly well-evaluated with young adult college samples (Beere, 1990). Factor analyses have shown that the conventionally feminine and the conventionally masculine domains are distinct from one another. The PAQ's internal consistency has been found to be between .61 and .76 (Helmreich et al., 1981).

Procedure

Data were collected from undergraduate students who needed to earn research course credit as well as from students associated with the university Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender (GLBT) Student Services Office. The former completed the questionnaires in classrooms. The latter picked up the research packets from the GLBT Student Services Office and mailed the completed questionnaires to the investigators. The survey packet contained an informed consent form, one of the eight possible vignettes, the rating scales for the vignette, the PAQ, and a demographic information questionnaire.

RESULTS

A factor analysis was conducted on the nine items that were used to evaluate the decision to engage in suicidal behavior in order to reduce their number into a smaller set of conceptually and empirically sound composite variables. The items were submitted to a principal factors extraction and then a varimax rotation with Kaiser normalization. On the basis of the criterion of factor loadings of .50 or greater to retain a variable in the factor, and discarding those variables that cross-loaded on more than one factor, two factors were obtained: Factor 1, which was named "Power of the Decision" (eigenvalue = 4.10), and Factor 2, called "Soundness of the Decision" (eigenvalue = 1.10). These two factors accounted for 57.76 percent of the variance. The factor loadings of the items used to evaluate the decision to engage in suicidal behavior are presented in Table I. Because of their high internal consistency (Cronbach's [alpha] = .75), the scores on the items in the "Strength of the Decision" factor were averaged to form a composite variable. Similarly, the four items on the "Soundness of the Decision" factor were averaged to form a composite score (Cronbach's [alpha] = .79). The "active-passive" item did not load onto either factor. It was treated as a separate variable because of its theoretically important and unique content.

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Attitudes 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

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