Euthanasia and Abortion: Personality Correlates for the Decision to Terminate Life

Abstract

The study addresses three research questions: (a) How well do level of conservatism and religiosity predict attitudes toward passive and active euthanasia? (b) What is the relationship between attitudes toward abortion and attitudes toward euthanasia? (c) How do personality variables relate differentially to these attitudes? Subjects were 168 Australian adults (68 men, 100 women). Initial analysis indicated no sex differences in attitudes toward the study's criterion variables. Descriptive statistics indicated general support for active and passive euthanasia and for abortion, although the majority of the respondents were found to be more accepting of passive than of active euthanasia. Multiple regression analyses indicated that level of conservatism was the most consistent predictor of attitudes toward euthanasia and abortion, whereas religiosity was found significantly to predict attitudes toward abortion only.