Background. Howell and Woolgar (2013) described a “positive psychology of language” (p. 87) in the context of showing that compassion increases the preference for non-stigmatizing language regarding mental disorder. Regarding the domain of suicide, the phrase “died by suicide” is often seen as less stigmatizing and more acceptable than the phrase “committed suicide” (e.g., Padmanathan et al., 2019; Sommer-Rotenberg, 1998).
Hypotheses/Research Questions. In the current study, we tested whether the inclination toward non-stigmatizing language in relation to suicide is influenced by the manner in which suicides are depicted.
Sample Characteristics and Sample Size. One hundred and fifty-four undergraduate participants comprised our sample.
Design. Participants read about a suicide that was depicted neutrally and one that was depicted as immoral and judged the applicability to each scenario of statements employing either “died by suicide” or “committed suicide”. They next chose between the free-standing phrases “died by suicide” and “committed suicide” in terms of which connoted immorality and provided written justifications for their choices.
Results. As predicted, participants judged “died by suicide” statements to be most applicable to the neutral-suicide scenario and “committed suicide” statements to be most applicable to the immoral-suicide scenario. A large majority of participants chose “committed suicide” over “died by suicide” as connoting immorality and participants’ justifications for this choice revealed several meaningful themes.
Scientific Contribution. Our findings contribute to the empirical basis for viewing “died by suicide” as a positive alternative to “committed suicide”, with implications for stigma reduction and help-seeking.