Public reactions to child suicide: Effects of child's age and method used

In two separate experiments, a total of 180 citizens at a suburban shopping mall responded to questionnaires about a fictitious newspaper article describing a male child's suicidal death. In Experiment I (90 subjects), the child's age was reported as either 10, 13½, or 17. In Experiment II, an additional 90 subjects responded to a fictitious newspaper article describing a 10-year-old boy's suicidal death by gunshot, hanging, or drug overdose. Seventeen-year-olds who committed suicide were rated more psychologically disturbed than 13½- or 10-year-olds. Parents of 17-year-old suicides were liked more than parents of younger children. In the case of the 17-year-olds, respondents were more likely to say that they felt that the cause of death should not be publicly reported. Across all ages, fathers were perceived as significantly more psychologically disturbed by female than by male respondents. Children who shot themselves were rated more psychologically disturbed than children who overdosed, but parents were rated about the same regardless of the child's method of suicide.