Attitudes Toward Suicide Among Chinese People in Hong Kong

570 Attitudes Toward Suicide in Hong Kong
TABLE 2
Continued
Overall (36.1% of variance, alpha = 0.852) Loadings
Factor 6 (Support: Support toward suicidal people) 3.3% of variance, alpha = 0.604
69. Most people are willing to offer psychological support to friends who want to attempt
or commit suicide.
70. Most people are willing to offer material support to friends who want to attempt or
0.579
commit suicide. 0.576
64. Most people care about those who had suicidal attempts. 0.558
51. People can solve problems that may lead to suicide through personal effort.
28. The suicide should have been able to change the psychological and personality factors
0.405
that led to suicide. 0.399
66. Strengthening mental health services can reduce suicide. 0.365
Factor 7 (Contagiousness: Contagiousness of suicide) 3.2% of variance, alpha = 0.511
56. Suicide by celebrities leads to imitation by members of the general public. 0.605
67. The media coverage of suicide news causes more people to attempt or complete suicide. 0.597
71. Group suicide is becoming more common in Hong Kong.
3. Suicide leads to huge economic loss to society.0.441
0.515
Factor 8 (Sympathy: Sympathy towards suicide) 2.7% of variance, alpha = 0.334
43. Suicide is not self-sought. 0.471
22. Most people are sympathetic toward the person who had suicidal acts. 0.470
63. Suicide is not under voluntary control. 0.412
Factor 9 (Function: Function of suicide) 2.4% of variance, alpha = 0.308
54. Sometimes a person may commit suicide for the welfare of another person.
40. People with interpersonal problems attempt or commit suicide primarily for the pur-
0.460
pose of making threats or retaliating against others. 0.498
26. A person has the right to euthanasia as long as he/she chooses it. 0.352
Note. 16 items that did not load on any factors were not listed.
*Scored in reverse direction.
tudes toward suicide among different socio- tudes toward suicide to a manageable number
demographic groups of Chinese people in of perspectives, our respondents, like subjects
Hong Kong. These findings are congruous in our focus groups, still exhibited several atwith
Chinese historical sources that suggest titudinal dimensions that could be intrinsi-
that there is no master theory that adequately cally contradictory. Thus, while four factors
explains how Chinese people perceive sui- pertained to social and interpersonal aspects
cide. Rather, suicide might be endorsed and/ of suicide (suicidal spectrum, social change,
or condemned by particular individuals un- contagiousness, and sympathy), the remainder
a variety of life situations. On the one ing five (negative appraisal, stigma, fatalism,
hand, suicide can be a means of avoiding un- support, and function) were about whether
bearable situations as well as a partially sanc- suicide was right or wrong, or should be met
tioned strategy for dealing with a variety of with sympathy or disapproval. These mani-
social, political, economic, and moral adver- festly dissimilar perspectives attest to the
sities. On the other hand, suicide was to be moral complexity of suicide and cast doubt
avoided and the dead person was in some on sweeping statements about whether Chi-
texts not to be mourned for (Hsieh & Spence, nese culture is for or against suicide (Lin,
1981; Lee & Kleinman, 2005; Lin, 1990; 1990).
Wolf, 1975).
Elderly suicide is one example of Chi-
Although factor analysis reduces atti- nese people’s attitudinal complexity toward
496