Social distance and the dying.

To determine the relative degree of avoidance elicited by the dying, a sample of 203 college students were requested to respond to a social distance scale evaluating 14 ethnic and nonethnic groups. Male subjects indicated basically less avoidance than female subjects, and ethnic groups (e.g. Negro, Mexican-American) were less avoided than the nonethnic groups (e.g. drug addict, dying person, alcoholic). A brief discussion of the problems of mental health workers in their own dealings with the dying is presented.