Deck 17: Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior

Question 1

The lowest suicide rates in our society are found among

A) 15 to 24-year-olds
B) those who are 85 years and older
C) Caucasian Americans
D) males taken as a group
E) females taken as a group

Answer 1

E

Question 2

An attempt to explain suicidal behavior as arising from inherited factors is

A) a psychological explanation
B) a biological explanation
C) a sociological explanation
D) a Freudian explanation
E) none of these

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Behavior that appears to involve a deliberate intention to end one's life is

A) most frequently associated with leaving an explanatory note
B) highly individual in character
C) most often comprehensible in its motivations
D) reflective of the single explanation put forward by suicidologists
E) consistent with widely-held values in our society

Answer 3

B

Question 4

"Cries for help" on the part of a suicidal person should be

A) ignored because they are so frustrating
B) addressed immediately
C) seen as merely attempts to get attention
D) viewed as signs that the person will not attempt suicide
E) referred to a psychologist

Question 5

In 2007, the overall death rate for suicide in the U.S.

A) increased greatly to beyond similar rates in 1990
B) was 11.5 per 100,000
C) was reduced by half
D) all of these
E) none of these

Question 6

The completed suicides of Ernest Hemingway and Sylvia Plath appear to differ in

A) courage versus cowardice
B) the ultimate outcome of the means each of them chose
C) their gender
D) deliberateness or intentionality
E) vocational choices

Question 7

For 15-24-year-olds in the U.S., between 1960 and 1990

A) suicide rates more than doubled
B) suicide rates remained stable
C) suicide rates declined by 25%
D) suicide rates declined by 50%
E) suicide was the leading cause of death

Question 8

In the U.S. in 2007, firearms were the main means used in

A) under 12 percent of completed suicides
B) approximately 23 percent of completed suicides
C) 35 percent of completed suicides
D) over half of all completed suicides
E) 69 percent of completed suicides

Question 9

A key need for every individual, which usually limits the risk of suicide when it is satisfied, is

A) having integration in one's life
B) having a profession
C) having an education
D) having hobbies
E) having social graces

Question 10

According to Freud, suicide is best explained

A) through biological factors
B) in terms of the relationship between an individual and his or her society
C) as essentially cognitive in nature
D) all of these
E) none of these

Question 11

Suicide literally means "killing of oneself." If that is all one uses to define suicide, which of the following would not be an act of suicide?

A) while playing "Russian roulette," shooting oneself fatally in the head
B) bungee jumping that results in one's death
C) while high on drugs, believing one can fly, thus walking off a cliff and falling to one's death
D) driving a race car which crashes and results in death
E) none of these

Question 12

The highest suicide rates in our society are found among

A) adolescent white males
B) adolescent white females
C) young adults of all races
D) elderly white males
E) elderly white females

Question 13

Suicide is most simply defined as

A) a kind of death
B) risk-taking behavior
C) life-threatening behavior
D) the unintentional ending of one's life
E) the intentional killing of oneself

Question 14

Suicide rates in the U.S. are highest among

A) Caucasian Americans
B) African Americans
C) Hispanic Americans
D) Asian Americans
E) Native Americans

Question 15

Among common patterns in U.S. suicidal behavior

A) men primarily use firearms to carry out a suicide
B) women primarily use firearms to carry out a suicide
C) men complete a suicide more frequently than women
D) women attempt a suicide more frequently than men
E) all of these

Question 16

Sigmund Freud provided a psychological explanation in which suicide is seen as

A) essentially a cognitive problem involving negative evaluations of the self
B) a kind of behavior in which the child has learned to express aggression outward
C) murder turned around 180 degrees
D) all of these
E) none of these

Question 17

Data on suicide may be inaccurate because

A) the deceased person's intention is unclear
B) family members resist attempts to label the death this way
C) some want to protect family members from guilt and stigma
D) all of these
E) none of these

Question 18

During the decade of the 1990s, overall numbers of suicide deaths in the U.S.

A) increased greatly
B) remained roughly stable or declined slightly
C) declined notably
D) could not be calculated
E) none of these

Question 19

How many deaths resulted from suicide in the United States in 2007?

A) less than 16,000
B) 22,000
C) just over 27,000
D) more than 34,000
E) approximately 39,000

Question 20

In the U.S. in 2007,

A) suicide was the cause of more deaths than homicide
B) suicide was the cause of more deaths than HIV infection
C) suicide was the cause of more deaths than those from homicide and HIV infection combined
D) all of these
E) none of these

Question 21

Theorists say suicidal behavior is complex because it involves three central elements

A) helplessness, hopelessness, and haplessness
B) unhappiness, hopelessness, and haplessness
C) depression, sadness, and despondency
D) unfulfillment, ambivalence, and guilt
E) none of these

Question 22

According to Durkheim, egoistic suicide is associated with

A) a condition of underregulation of individuals by society
B) a condition of excessive regulation by society
C) a condition of overinvolvement or overintegration of an individual in his or her society
D) a condition of underinvolvement or underintegration of an individual in his or her society
E) a condition called "anomie"

Question 23

Survivors of suicides must cope with tasks related to

A) the death of someone to whom one has been close
B) a death due to a non-natural cause
C) a death perceived to have been avoidable
D) a sudden death
E) all of these

Question 24

For Durkheim, an example of an anomic condition that might lead to suicide is

A) economic dislocation, sudden dismissal from one's job
B) a Japanese samurai warrior who commits ritual seppuku
C) Eskimo abandonment of ill or elderly group members
D) persons whose futures and passions are blocked or choked
E) all of these

Question 25

Rational suicide is said to be illegitimate because much suicidal behavior involves

A) the absence of pain and suffering
B) individual autonomy and self-determination
C) disagreement with those who assist in the process
D) self-abnegation
E) depression

Question 26

Shneidman argued that the key element in suicide is a triggering process, which is:

A) inimicality
B) the idea of cessation
C) perturbation
D) constriction
E) haplessness

Question 27

According to Menninger,

A) suicide is a very complex act
B) suicide is a simple, incidental, isolated act of impulsion
C) suicide is inexplicable
D) all of these
E) none of these

Question 28

In intervening or helping a suicidal person, one should

A) expect to prevent the suicide
B) assist the person to recognize options other than death
C) point out that suicide is immoral
D) show how trivial the person's problems really are
E) help the person develop "tunnel vision"

Question 29

Which of the following is not a "myth" about suicide?

A) people who talk about suicide do sometimes commit suicide
B) once one is suicidal, he or she will always be suicidal
C) psychological improvement after a crisis means that there is now no risk of suicide
D) there is never a warning when a real suicide attempt is about to be made
E) suicidal persons are mentally ill

Question 30

According to Durkheim, when integration between an individual and a social group is too strong and it leads to the individual's suicide, this is an example of

A) altruistic suicide
B) egoistic suicide
C) anomic suicide
D) animistic suicide
E) fatalistic suicide

Question 31

Behaviors of a suicidal person often include

A) giving away of cherished objects
B) changes in sleeping patterns
C) changes in eating habits
D) having a period of calmness following agitation
E) all of these

Question 32

Those who argue on behalf of "rational suicide" often maintain that it differs from other acts of suicide because

A) others may have the right to assist the suicidal person
B) it is lucid and appropriate
C) the person has the right to end his or her life
D) it is not illegal
E) all of these

Question 33

According to Durkheim, "fatalistic" suicide stems from

A) allowing freedom of expression
B) enforcing excessive regulations
C) maintaining secrecy
D) maintaining an open door policy
E) none of these

Question 34

An example of an altruistic suicide is

A) killing oneself because of the end of an important relationship with another person
B) killing oneself because social collapse to an inability to provide food for one's children
C) killing oneself to hurt for a particular survivor
D) killing oneself because one's society expects one to do so in the circumstances
E) none of these

Question 35

Claims on behalf of the legitimacy of rational suicide are generally founded on

A) the absence of pain and suffering
B) individual autonomy and self-determination
C) disagreement with those who assist in the process
D) self-abnegation
E) the doctrine of inimicality

Question 36

Which of the following interventions would not be helpful for someone contemplating suicide?

A) reduce his or her unbearable pain
B) contribute to enhanced feelings of hope
C) stall or play for time
D) encourage the person to be alone in order to focus on personal solutions to problems
E) investigate past coping strategies

Question 37

Researchers in the 1970s reported that a completed suicide by a family member often intensified survivors' experiences of

A) inimicality, perturbation, and constriction
B) helplessness, hopelessness, and haplessness
C) integration and regulation
D) anger, sadness, and guilt
E) autonomy, ambivalence, and altruism

Question 38

"Cluster" or "copycat" suicides are most often found in

A) 10 to 14-year-olds
B) 15 to 19-year-olds
C) 25 to 44-year-olds
D) those who are 65 years of age and older
E) Native Americans

Question 39

A false statement about suicide is

A) after once being suicidal, a person can still have a productive, happy life
B) most suicides occur within three months following a period of improvement
C) suicide runs in families and is inherited
D) most suicidal people are undecided about death/living
E) suicides occur across all levels of society

Question 40

Which of the following practical measures is not recommended for helping suicidal persons?

A) listen to what these persons are saying
B) tell these persons that the crisis they think they are having is not really of much importance
C) stay with such persons until the crisis passes
D) point out alternative solutions to perceived problems
E) get them to talk about their actual plans