TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2021//
TI  - Does self-esteem inflation mitigate mortality salience effects on suicide attitudes?
JO  - Suicide and life-threatening behavior
A1  - Kheibari, Athena
A1  - Cerel, Julie
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - 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>
LA  - en
SN  - 0363-0234
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12759
ID  - ref1
ER  -