Premium
Accurately Imagining Suicide: Imagine‐Self, Imagine‐Person, Observer Instructions 1
Author(s) -
Knott Ena C.,
Range Lillian M.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb01612.x
Subject(s) - psychology , interpersonal communication , suicidal ideation , perception , social psychology , suicide prevention , observer (physics) , interpersonal relationship , clinical psychology , poison control , medical emergency , medicine , neuroscience , physics , quantum mechanics
To see if actor versus observer instructions influenced students' perceptions of social support during a suicidal crisis, 80 students completed social support, interpersonal reactivity, and suicidal behaviors questionnaires. In a yoked design, students who had been suicidal were matched with those who were instructed to imagine themselves being suicidal, to imagine that another person was suicidal, or to observe a person who was suicidal. Those who had been suicidal in the past (n = 20) were more suicidal than the other 3 groups ( ns = 20). The suicidal group perceived high social support (belonging and appraisal), compared to the others, who perceived moderate support. Overall, nonsuicidal college students consistently underestimated their suicidal peer's social support, regardless of the instructions they were given.