Attitudes toward euthanasia and their predictors – dark triad, emotional empathy and religiosity

Cilj ovog istraživanja je ispitati stavove hrvatskih građana prema eutanaziji te utvrditi prediktore tih stavova. Online upitnik koji se sastojao od Upitnika općih podataka, Kineske proširene skale stavova prema eutanaziji, Kratke skale mračne trijade, Skale emocionalne empatije i Upitnika religioznosti primijenjen je na uzorku od 562 sudionika (71.5 % žene, 28.5 % muškarci) u dobi od 18 godina nadalje. Sudionici blago podržavaju eutanaziju te smatraju da je ona prihvatljiva u određenim slučajevima. Stavovi prema eutanaziji razlikuju se s obzirom na vrstu eutanazije te s obzirom na odnos s neizlječivo bolesnom osobom. Najpozitivniji stav sudionici imaju prema eutanaziji kod koje je uzrok smrti nepoduzimanje liječničkih tretmana te postoji eksplicitni zahtjev za eutanazijom od strane osobe nepoznate sudionicima. Ispitana je i mogućnost predikcije stavova prema eutanaziji na temelju sociodemografskih karakteristika, iskustva s temom eutanazije, vrijednosnog sustava i osobina ličnosti. Vrijednosni sustav najviše pridonosi predikciji stavova prema eutanaziji. Iz vrijednosnog sustava posebice se ističe religioznost koja ima najveći samostalni doprinos u objašnjenju varijance stavova prema eutanaziji. Religiozne osobe imaju negativnije stavove prema eutanaziji. Ustanovljeno je da makijavelizam i psihopatija iz mračne trijade, varijable koje do sada nisu istraživane u ovom kontekstu, također predviđaju stavove prema eutanaziji. Osobe koje posjeduju ove osobine ličnosti imaju pozitivnije stavove prema eutanaziji. Suprotno očekivanjima, emocionalna empatija nije se pokazala povezanom sa stavovima prema eutanaziji.The goal of this research is to examine the attitudes of Croatian citizens toward euthanasia and to determine predictors of those attitudes. An online survey that consisted of a General data questionnaire, a Chinese expanded euthanasia attitude scale, a Short dark triad 28, an Emotional empathy scale and a Religiosity questionnaire has been applied on a sample of 562 participants (71.5 % female, 28.5 % male) aged from 18 years and upwards. Participants show mild support for euthanasia and consider euthanasia to be acceptable in specific cases. Attitudes toward euthanasia vary with respect to different types of euthanasia and the relationship with the terminally ill person. The most positive attitude has been shown toward euthanasia in which the cause of death was the withdrawal of medical treatments and an explicit request for euthanasia was made by the person unkown to the participants. We also studied the possibility of predicting attitudes toward euthanasia based on sociodemographic variables, experience regarding euthanasia, value system and personality traits. The value system contributes to the prediction of attitudes toward euthanasia to the highest extent. As for the value system, religiosity stands out and has the largest single contribution in explaining the variance of attitudes toward euthanasia. Religious individuals have a more negative attitude toward euthanasia. It was found that machiavellianism and psychopathy of the dark triad, the variables that have previously not been studied in this context, also predict attitudes toward euthanasia. People who possess these traits have a more positive attitude toward euthanasia. Contrary to our expectations, emotional empathy is not correlated with attitudes toward euthanasia