This study investigated whether attitudes on suicide would be affected by the individual's personal characteristics and the nature of the situation. It was hypothesized that suicide would be judged more or less “justifiable” depending on characteristics of the crisis confronting the suicidal individual as well as perception of the individual's general utility to society as a whole. Eighty undergraduates responded to sixteen fictional suicide case histories with judgments on a series of twelve items indicating their perception of the “justifiability” of the suicidal act in each case. Results showed that the personal characteristics of the suicidal individual made little difference, but that the nature of the crisis confronting the suicidal individual affected judgments of justifiability. Specifically, respondents tended to regard physical deterioration and pain as more justifiable motives for suicide than the less acceptable motives of mental deterioration or pain. Implications of the data for theories on suicide are discussed.

To determine whether a "children-of-holocaust-survivors syndrome" could more parsimoniously be explained as an "immigration effect," we performed a comparative study on a sample of 25 children of holocaust survivors, 25 children of immigrants, and 25 children of American-born parents. Subjects were matched on age and educational level and were assessed with four measures of mental health. Contrary to the findings of some researchers whose data supported such a syndrome, our data indicate no significant differences between children of holocaust survivors and the children of other immigrants. These data are suggestive of an immigration effect that is common to the children of immigrants and not limited to the children of holocaust survivors, rather than a survivors syndrome. The children of American-born parents showed greater alienation, less religiosity, and a tendency toward feelings of less guilt than the other two groups. Our data underscore the need to control immigrant status in multiple samples and studies before definitive conclusions can be drawn in this area.

is an honors graduate of Montclair State College. For her psychology honors project she conducted a year-long study of staff retention in psychiatric rehabilitation. She has worked as a caseworker and skills training instructor in psychosocial rehabilitation and as a research assistant helping to develop a multi-program psychiatric rehabilitation data base. She is a member of the New Jersey Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association.

This study tested 62 police officers and 62 college males on their own authoritarianism and their estimates of the authoritarian beliefs of the other group. College students perceived police officers as much more authoritarian than the officers represented themselves as being (p < .0001). Officers were accurate in their estimations of students' authoritarianism, and there was no difference between officers and students in their characterizations of their own authoritarianism. The differences between these findings and those in much of the literature (especially that from the early 1970s) may be due to differences in police experience: Many of the officers in this sample had some college and thus direct experience with students. It may also be that officers are now being specifically chosen on the basis of less authoritarian attitudes. The results imply that rather than focusing on changing the attitudes of officers, police departments desiring better public relations might do well to concentrate on correcting public opinion.

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