Attitudes towards euthanasia in Iran: the role of altruism.

Objective: Altruism is arguably the quintessential moral trait, involving willingness to benefit others and unwillingness to harm them. In this study, I explored how altruism and other personality variables relate to acceptance of euthanasia. In addition, I investigated the role of culture in attitudes to subcategorical distinctions of euthanasia.

Methods: 190 Iranian students completed the Attitude Towards Euthanasia scale, the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised, and an interest in religion measure.

Results: Higher scores on altruism, Honesty-Humility, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and religiousness were associated with viewing euthanasia as unacceptable. As expected, altruism explained unique variance in euthanasia attitude beyond gender, religiosity and broad personality factors.

Conclusions: Cultural and individual differences should be taken into consideration in moral psychology research and end-of-life decision-making.