Relatively little research has been conducted on religion and suicide in Africa, yet religion has a lot of influence on people's way of life in Africa. To study religious views on suicide among the Baganda, Uganda, we used grounded theory and discourse analysis on a total of 28 focus groups and 30 key informant interviews. Suicide is largely seen…

In response to the general prohibition of euthanasia and assisted suicide, some right-to-die activists have developed non-medical methods to covertly hasten death. One such method is a "debreather," a closed system breathing device that laypersons can use to induce hypoxia for persons seeking euthanasia or assisted suicide. This article presents…

This article considers the stigmatized deaths in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978, in which more than 900 Americans died of mass murder and suicide, and how this led to the disenfranchisement of grief. It examines the rituals of exclusion by which bodies were handled and describes the experiences of Jonestown survivors. It then looks at the ways in…

This exploratory study examines veterinarians' perceptions of how they offer social support to grieving clients. Because many clients cannot find the social support they would like from other sources when grieving the death of a pet, the role of the vet in offering support becomes increasingly important. The results indicate that vets perceive…

Attitudes toward teenagers with and without physical disabilities, and their social acceptance, were examined from the perspective of terror management theory and the broaden and build theory. Participants (n = 390, aged 13-17) were divided into 3 experimental conditions: positive emotions, mortality salience, and control. Then, they were shown…

Suicide among young people has become a growing concern in life in the 21st century and is a tragedy faced by an increasing number of families and in particular parents. This study set out to focus on the experiences of parents reentering the workplace following the death of a child by suicide. Although the immediate aftermath of experiencing…

A substantial literature has documented that sexual abuse relates to suicidal behaviors but relatively less is known about resilience to suicide, especially cognitive deterrents to suicide. The present study investigated the effects of a history of sexual victimization on reasons for living. Female participants (N = 138; M age = 24.4 years; SD =…

With survey data collected primarily from peer support group participants, the authors compared stigmatization responses of 462 parents losing children to suicide with 54 other traumatic death survivors and 24 child natural death survivors. Parents who encountered harmful responses and strained relations with family members and non-kin reported…

Heavy alcohol consumption is prevalent on many college campuses and alcohol use has been linked to suicidal behavior. The present study examined reasons for living in 287 college students with varying levels of risk for alcohol-related problems. With the exception of the moral objections subscale of the Reasons for Living Inventory, significant…

Qualitative investigations have indicated that music therapy groups may be beneficial for bereaved teenagers. The existing relationship between young people and music serves as a platform for connectedness and emotional expression that is utilised within a therapeutic, support group format. This investigation confirms this suggestion through…

Severe grief symptoms, treatment receptivity, attitudes about grief, and stigmatization concerns were assessed in a community-based sample of 135 widowed participants in the Yale Bereavement Study. There was a statistically significant association between the severity of grief symptoms and reported negative reactions from friends and family…

The experience of bereavement by parental suicide is not well understood, as evidenced by the lack of empirically supported interventions for this underserved population. This article reviews quantitative and qualitative research on the psychopathological outcomes and thematic characteristics of childhood and adolescent suicide survivorship and…

In a study designed to examine correlates of cancer-related stigma, 405 college students were assigned randomly to listen to an audiotaped interview in which the target's cancer type and smoking status were manipulated. In the lung cancer conditions, target gender also was manipulated. Social distance and emotional responses differed according to…

The factor structure of the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire (SOQ) was investigated in 2 studies. In the first study, the SOQ was administered to 568 participants to investigate the relative strength of 3 competing latent structure models previously identified in the literature. Confirmatory factor analyses provided no support for any of the prior…

The present study examines the effect of age, gender, and living circumstances on elderly persons' death anxiety. For this purpose, 299 persons attending public parks (average age = 70 years) were interviewed using the Death Anxiety Survey Schedule, which is a set of 10 questions related to death anxiety from an Indian perspective. Women, those…