Japanese Undergraduates’ Attitudes Toward Students Survivors of Parental Suicide

Abstract

This study investigated Japanese undergraduates’ attitudes toward a fellow student whose parent has died by suicide. One hundred thirty-four participants responded to four versions of a brief fictional case describing a male undergraduate whose father had died. These presented fictional cases described the cause of the death as being suicide, cancer, AIDS, or murder. Results indicated that participants had more negative attitudes toward the suicide survivor student than the nonstigmatized death (cancer) survivor. Further, results indicated that participants viewed suicide survivors as more to blame for the death and had a more negative image of them than of the other stigmatized death (AIDS and murder) survivors.