Dimensions of Suicide: Perceptions of Lethality, Time, and Agony

291 college students & 10 forensic pathologists rated the lethality, time, & agony of 28 methods for 4,177 cases of suicide. Pathologists provided consistent ratings, but the students demonstrated extreme variability & a tendency to inflate ratings of all 3 dimensions. Significant gender differences emerged, with females rating frequently used methods more similarly to pathologists than males did. African Americans were overrepresented in the use of the most lethal & quickest methods.