Structural Parameters of Sex, Race, Age, and Education and their Influence on Attitudes toward Suicide

Abstract

A state wide proportionate systematic telephone survey of 400 Arkansans was conducted in the summer of 1984 to ascertain the population's attitudes toward suicide and suicidal behaviors. Weighting of the sample to conform to the 1980 distribution of the population by sex resulted in a final sample size of 491. An analysis of the results by sex, race, age, and educational level was performed. Sixty-nine percent of the respondents do not believe that a person has the right to commit suicide. Seventy-one percent believe that a normal person would not commit suicide. More than half of the sample know someone who has committed or tried to commit suicide. Attitudes and experiences with suicide and suicidal people were found to be differentially distributed by age, sex, race, and educational level.