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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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Finally, gender identity influenced perceptions of the suicidal decision. Specifically, androgynous persons were most likely to rate the suicidal decision as unsound, as compared to all other gender identity types. Similarly, Dahlen and Canetto (2002) found that androgynous persons were the least accepting of the suicidal decision of all gender identity types. They tended to view the suicidal choice as foolish, independent of reasons for the suicidal behavior. Androgynous persons have also been reported to score higher on protective factors against suicidal behavior, including survival beliefs, coping beliefs, and moral objections to suicidal behavior (Ellis & Range, 1988).

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This study's findings on gender identity confirm and extend the results of past studies of attitudes about the suicidal decision as well as those of studies of attitudes about the suicidal person (Cato & Canetto, 2003; Dahlen & Canetto, 1996, 2002; Ellis & Range, 1988; Stillion, McDowell, Smith, & McCoy, 1986). In short, androgynous individuals are more forgiving of the suicidal person, but they are less accepting of the suicidal behavior. They seem less critical of the suicidal individual, and they take the suicidal behavior seriously, but they are less likely to idealize or even condone the suicidal decision. These findings have implications for the prevention of suicidal behavior. It may be that androgynous persons are the best candidates for training as peer counselors in suicide prevention programs. They may be more capable of listening and expressing care for the suicidal person while also being the most firm in their judgment that suicidal behavior is an unsound choice.

Our findings, together with those of other studies on beliefs about and attitudes toward suicidal behaviors, suggest new directions for suicide prevention programs. Educational programs may benefit from including a didactic component regarding the epidemiology of gender and suicidal behavior across sexual orientations such that participants can be informed about the forms of suicidal behavior typically found in women and men, and how risk for these different suicidal behaviors varies depending on sexual orientation. This didactic presentation could be followed by a discussion of social beliefs about gender and suicidal behavior under different conditions, and then an analysis of the limitations that these beliefs impose on coping (Canetto, 1997a). This focus on unexamined and dysfunctional social beliefs about suicidal behavior (such as the belief, commonly found in men, that suicide is a personal choice and an individual right; or the belief that surviving a suicidal act is feminine, weak behavior) builds upon the methods and wisdom of cognitive and feminist therapies for depression.

The accumulating evidence on the association of androgyny with constructive beliefs and attitudes about suicidal behavior argues for an androgyny component in primary and secondary prevention programs (Dahlen & Canetto, 2002; Westefeld, Whitchard, & Range, 1990). A focus on androgyny is also indirectly supported by the findings of studies of persons who died of suicide. Psychological autopsy studies tend to show that people who killed themselves have a limited range of interests, are closed to feelings, and avoid new experiences and challenges (Canetto, 1997b). These tendencies, which are part of the Openness to Experience personality dimension, suggest rigidity in the sense of self and, possibly, insufficient androgyny. The evidence on attitudes toward suicidal behavior and androgyny may also argue for androgyny as a broad mental health goal, along with self-esteem and openness to new experience. This goal is consistent with the idea that prevention should focus on strengthening resilience factors, not only on preventing risk factors (McDaniel, Purcell, & D'Augelli, 2001).

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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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