Factors affecting willingness to help a suicidal peer in two levels of closeness – friends and acquaintances.

• Main Author: Sharifah Nur Syed Aidrus Alhadad.
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/44305
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The study evaluates the effect of empathic concern and perceived controllability, on willingness to help a suicidal individual in 2 separate contexts of closeness – 'friends' and 'acquaintances'. Survey data were collected from 100 undergraduates, aged 19 to 26, from a university in Singapore. Results reported empathic concern as a significant predictor of willingness to help in friends, but not in acquaintances, indicating that the empathy-altruism hypothesis is more evident in the context of friendship. Perceived controllability did not predict willingness to help in both friends and acquaintances. Implications of the study of willingness to help a suicidal peer and suggestions for future research are discussed.