Abstract

Euthanasia is a complex issue of fundamental personal significance, and has become the focus of major controversy in contemporary American society. Yet little is known about the key factors underlying an individual's decision whether or not to hasten his/her own death. The present work reviewed the conflicting ethical arguments on the subject, and explored basic demographic and belief structures underlying euthanasia attitudes by comparing members of pro- and anti-euthanasia groups on these variables. Afterlife-belief was particularly hypothesized to be associated with euthanasia-attitude. ;A questionnaire was mailed to 1,000 members each of the Hemlock Society and of the California Pro-Life Council , assessing their demographics, euthanasia- and related death-attitudes, afterlife-beliefs, and factors influencing euthanasia-attitudes and afterlife-belief. The method yielded 785 Hemlock and 161 CPLC respondents. Thirteen research hypotheses were tested using chi-square and critical ratio statistics . ;Compared to Hemlock respondents, CPLC respondents were found to be younger, more often Latino, lower income, blue collar workers, politically Republican and conservative, Roman Catholic and currently married. Hemlock respondents were more often retired, more highly educated, non-Christian, and divorced or widowed. Male/female proportions were approximately equal in both groups. Compared to normative samples, respondents from both groups were more often female, older, non-Black, higher income, white collar and professional/executive workers, non-Protestant, and politically non-moderate. ;The data indicated that Christian religious training most influenced opposition to euthanasia, while death-proximate experiences most influenced approval of euthanasia. Euthanasia attitudes were consistent with abortion attitudes, but almost two-thirds of those disapproving of euthanasia approved of capital punishment. Compared to national norms, more CPLC respondents and fewer Hemlock respondents believed in an afterlife. Religious training most influenced a positive afterlife belief, while "lack of evidence" most influenced lack of afterlife belief. Persons believing in an afterlife with consequences related to actions in this life were less likely to approve of euthanasia than were non-consequential-afterlife believers. ;Reliability and limitations/delimitations of the findings were discussed. Importance of the findings with respect to education and counseling were also discussed, as were implications for future research