SOCIAL REACTIONS TO ATTEMPTED-SUICIDE - THE EFFECTS OF GENDER AND PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS

The effects of gender of subject, gender of suicide attempter, and phy sical attractiveness of attempter on justification, emotional adjustme nt, and liking were investigated in this study. One hundred forty-eigh t male and female undergraduates (average age = 21.93 years) read a br ief case history describing an individual who attempted suicide one we ek ago. Two-thirds of the subjects also received a photograph. Subject s were randomly assigned to one of six groups: attractive female attem pter, unattractive female attempter, no photograph female attempter, a ttractive male attempter, unattractive male attempter, and no photogra ph 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 at tractiveness. Univariate analyses of these effects showed that females rated attempters significantly more justified than males and that att ractive attempters were liked significantly more than unattractive and no photograph attempters.