Suicide Stigma in Online Social Interactions: Impacts of Social Capital and Suicide Literacy. Issue 11 (19th September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: An, Soontae; Lee, Hannah
• Is Part Of: Health communication. Volume 34:Issue 11(2019)
• Page Start: 1340
• Page End: 1349
• Publication Date: 2019-09-19
• Subjects: Communication in medicine -- Periodicals; Health in mass media -- Periodicals; 362.1014
• DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2018.1486691
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1041-0236

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study examined whether and when people are more likely to conform to stigmatizing views on suicide in online social interactions. Two key factors in the study included characteristics of individuals' social capital and suicide literacy. Study 1 analyzed national survey data to explore the relationships, and Study 2 involved a vignette to gauge the extent to which people conform to stigmatizing attitudes toward suicidal people under group pressure. Results showed that those emphasizing social networks demonstrated higher levels of suicide stigma, while those with more interpersonal trust showed lower levels of stigma. However, in relation to interpersonal trust, suicide literacy played a moderating role in that those with lower levels of interpersonal trust showed significantly less conformity when they had high suicide literacy.