Show Study Seeks To Check U. S. Suicide is taboo in American But a percentage of the population probably has latent attitudes of acceptance towards it under certain AT LEAST this is what is indicated in a study by a Tulane researcher supported by a grant from HEW's National Institute of Mental Health Services and Mental Health The study was one of the first attempts to develop a technique to measure the of a consisting of people other than those found in RANDOMLY selected college alumni living in the same area were The student group was included because suicide is a leading cause of death among students are generally with questions about meaning of life and and other factors which affect attitudes toward Physicians were surveyed because they are and for potential suicides as well as a high-risk suicide group The alumni formed a comparison THE STUDY showed that most of the total population surveyed were against but that some felt that there might be circumstances as prolonged social great under which suicide might be considered justified or at least The study also indicated that one of the strongest deterrents to suicide is religious Several of those queried reported that they themselves had weathered suicidal crises with abiding faith in a sustaining |