Assisted suicide: factors affecting public attitudes

Public support for assisted suicide has been growing despite the ethical questions raised by members of the medical profession. Previous research suggests that age, gender, experience, and religiosity are factors affecting individuals' attitudes. This study examines the effect of demographic and ideological factors, as well as individuals' caregiving experiences, on attitudes toward assisted suicide. Random-digit-dialing procedures produced a sample of 156 residents of Denton, Texas, in March 1998. T-tests were conducted to measure significance, while gamma values were used to measure level of association and percent reduction in error. The data indicate that age, gender, and caregiving experience were not significant predictors of attitudes. Situational factors, including whether a physician or friend/family member should assist and whether a child or a terminally ill patient experiencing no pain should receive assistance, all were highly significant and positively associated with attitudes toward assisted suicide. Respondents were most likely to support physician-assisted suicide for individuals experiencing no pain. The data also indicated that the depth of commitment to the beliefs that suffering has meaning, that life belongs to God, and that physician-assisted suicide is murder, were highly significant and negatively associated with attitudes toward assisted suicide.     

Attitudes toward physician assisted suicide: Poland and the United States

A scale to measure attitudes toward physician assisted suicide was administered to a sample (N=246) of Polish citizens and a sample (N=246) of U.S. citizens equated on gender, marital status, religion, and socioeconomic level. In both samples the reliability was substantial (Cronbach's alphas of .93 and .89), and the factor structure identical (one major factor). Significant ethnic differences were found for 10 of the 12 scale items, but no differences related to demographic variables. The obtained differences appear to parallel a conservative-liberal dimension, though this will need to be assessed in future studies.     

舆论危机的异化极化效应研究

随着Web2.0时代的到来,网络媒体逐渐成为舆论生成、传播和交锋的主阵地,舆论危机的形成及其异化也成为日益突出的社会风险问题.本文以舆论的异化演化机理为研究对象,通过梳理典型事件舆论话题的异化过程,对其基本内涵、表现形式和演化模式等进行系统总结.随后,研究以舆论超网络模型为基础,借鉴社会影响理论的基本原则,提出舆论异化机理的极化算法,并对其具体流程进行解析和实现.最后,本文以“7·23甬温动车事故”为例,对舆论危机的异化极化过程和影响因素进行系统仿真和实证分析.     

Gender and physician-assisted suicide: an analysis of the Kevorkian cases, 1990-1997

This study examines the seventy-five suicide cases Dr. Jack Kevorkian acknowledged assisting during the period between 1990-1997. Although these cases represent a range of regional and occupational backgrounds, a significant majority are women. Most of these individuals had a disabling, chronic, nonterminal-stage illness. In five female cases, the medical examiner found no evidence of disease whatsoever. About half of the women were between the ages of forty-one and sixty, and another third were older adults. Men's conditions were somewhat less likely than women's to be chronic and nonterminal-stage. The main reasons for the hastened death mentioned by both the person and their significant others were having disabilities, being in pain, and fear of being a burden. The predominance of women among Kevorkian's assisted suicides contrasts with national trends in suicide mortality, where men are a clear majority. It is possible that individuals whose death was hastened by Kevorkian are not representative of physician-assisted suicide cases around the country, because of Kevorkian's unique approach. Alternatively, the preponderance of women among Kevorkian's assisted suicides may represent a real phenomenon. One possibility is that, in the United States, assisted suicide is particularly acceptable for women. Individual, interpersonal, social, economic, and cultural factors encouraging assisted suicide in women are examined.