Strategies to Secure Compliance for a Mall Intercept Interview

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Abstract
Despite long-standing research interest in the social correlates of suicide, public attitudes toward suicide have received comparatively little attention. Using data from NORC's General Social Survey, this study examines popular support for a person's right to commit suicide when s/he is tired of living or faced with an incurable disease, bankruptcy, or family dishonor. Survey responses to these four items conform to a unidimensional Guttman-type scale. Opposition to suicide, as measured by this scale, varies along a number of sociodemographic lines. Prolife beliefs and civil libertarianism are strongly related to a person's attitudes toward suicide and explain at least part of every sociodemographic relationship examined. By contrast, life satisfaction, anomia, and social participation measures show no significant associations with suicide attitudes.

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