Factors Affecting the Unacceptability of Suicide and the Effects of Evaluator Depression and Religiosity

This study represents a partial replication and extension of Deluty's investigations of the factors affecting suicide unacceptability [1]. Two hundred eighty-two Catholic college students evaluated scenarios which manipulated precipitating illness (i.e., severe depression, chronic physical pain, and terminal bone cancer) and gender of victim. In addition, evaluator variables (i.e., gender, mood state, and religiosity) were also considered. Results indicated that the unacceptability of suicide is a function of precipitating illness and gender of victim as well as a function of an evaluator's mood state, and religiosity. In addition, complex interactions among several of these variables were found, suggesting the complexity of decisions regarding the unacceptability of suicide.