This study looks at the occurrence of misconceptions about suicides. The researcher used a sample of 643 United States residents who completed the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire (SOQ). The SOQ contains twenty items. The responses to these items were analyzed. The researcher used a three-way ANOVA to analyze the data. The researcher was interested to see if there would be any differences or a correlation between the gender, age, or ethnic background of the participants according to their responses about suicide. Quite a variety of people participated in this study. Of the 643 participants, forty-eight were members of the janitorial and grounds-keeping staff at three educational institutions; 123 were recruited through the support of five Christian churches; thirty-two were employees of an electronics firm; 141 were relatives or friends of students enrolled in a Psychological Testing course; 129 were visitors to a large shopping mall; sixty-five were mental health professionals; eighty-two were residents of a retirement community; and twenty-three were parents of grade-school children. Their ages ranged from twenty-one to eighty-three. Significant main effects were obtained for age and ethnic background. There was not a significant difference was not found between male and female participants. The study found that misconceptions about suicide were not as prevalent as other sources had led to believe. The researcher also communicated a second hypothesis which is this: "When a suicide attempter communicates, the intent is more likely to be communicated to nonfamily members . ". .
I found this study to be very interesting. I would think that people as a whole would tend to have a lot of misconceptions about suicide. A good amount people probably do not or have not dealt with a suicidal person or had suicidal thoughts themselves. Therefore, they could possibly have misconceptions about it.