Social Reactions to Attempted Suicide: The Effects of Gender and Physical Attractiveness

Abstract

The effects of gender of subject, gender of suicide attempter, and physical attractiveness of attempter on justification, emotional adjustment, and liking were investigated in this study. One hundred forty-eight male and female undergraduates (average age = 21.93 years) read a brief case history describing an individual who attempted suicide one week ago. Two-thirds of the subjects also received a photograPh. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of six groups: attractive female attempter, unattractive female attempter, no photograph female attempter, attractive male attempter, unattractive male attempter, and no photograph male attempter. Ratings of justification, emotional adjustment, and liking were measured using 7-point Likert-type questions. The MANOVA revealed significant main effects of gender of subject and physical attractiveness. Univariate analyses of these effects showed that females rated attempters significantly more justified than males and that attractive attempters were liked significantly more than unattractive and no photograph attempters.