@article{ref1,
title="Does self-esteem inflation mitigate mortality salience effects on suicide attitudes?",
journal="Suicide and life-threatening behavior",
year="2021",
author="Kheibari, Athena and Cerel, Julie",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="INTRODUCTION: Suicide stigma is a major barrier to prevention and intervention efforts. Using terror management theory as the guiding framework, the present study examined whether enhancing self-esteem would buffer against suicide stigma and lead to prosocial attitudes and behavior. <br><br>METHODS: Experimental methods were utilized in the present study. After being primed with death-related thoughts, participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) positive feedback (experimental group) and (2) no feedback (control group). The dependent variables included (1) evaluations of a suicide decedent, (2) intentions to intervene against suicide, and (3) charitable donation behavior toward a suicide prevention organization. <br><br>RESULTS: The most consistent findings for the self-esteem boost hypothesis were for the interaction effects of death anxiety and self-esteem boost for the donation allocation task and intentions to intervene against suicide. For participants who were reminded of death, the self-esteem boost intervention mitigated the negative impact of death anxiety on donation behavior (i.e., an average difference of $16.37). Positive feedback for participants with reported low self-esteem also led to increased willingness to intervene against suicide. <br><br>CONCLUSION: These findings provide some promising potential for the self-esteem enhancement intervention to attenuate defensive reactions to suicide.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0363-0234",
doi="10.1111/sltb.12759",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12759"
}