One century ago, Durkheim measured completed suicide from coroner's office and religious affiliations for countries in Western Europe for comparison. Today, it may not be as meaningful to just measure completed suicide with religious affiliation.
Today, due to more complicated socio-cultural factor, multi-religious factor, and data accuracy, is it good to measure LEVEL OF RELIGIOSITY against SUIDICAL IDEATION SCALE, as a proxy whether religion still does provide any protective factor against suicide for certain groups?
The effect of religious commitment on suicide: A cross-national analysis
S Stack (1983)
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 362-374
'A theory is developed
that argues that a high level of commitment to a few life-preserving religious beliefs, values,
and practices will lower suicide levels.'
Béatrice
I question if the variable is the correct religion? Or is the variable group that follows this religion.
As a clinician, I usually feel on the safe side with regards to suicidal attempts when one says that religion is an important aspect in his/her life, because in Orthodox Christianity (the prevailing religion in Greece), it is considered the utmost sin to commit suicide. As for the rest, I think that religion gives hope, but also may feel like a burdain for one's life. So, various causal directions to investigate.
Dear Bob,
These articles may be of interest to you.
Best wishes,
Julio
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4149292/
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/155/5/413.full
There is evidence that frequency of church attendance is associated with decreased risk for suicide attempts among Inuit. Very likely this reflects the level of social support or family integration among youth. See: Kirmayer, L. J., Malus, M., & Boothroyd, L. J. (1996). Suicide attempts among Inuit youth: a community survey of prevalence and risk factors. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 94(1), 8-17.
In another study in Gujarat India, we found that exposure to stressful religious conflicts was associated with increased risk for suicidal behaviour. See: Nath, Y., Paris, J., Thombs, B., & Kirmayer, L. (2012). Prevalence and social determinants of suicidal behaviours among college youth in India. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 58(4), 393-399.
Finally, among migrants, the effect of religiosity on level of distress varies by religion: Jarvis, G. E., Kirmayer, L. J., Weinfeld, M., & Lasry, J. C. (2005). Religious practice and psychological distress: The importance of gender, ethnicity and immigrant status. Transcultural Psychiatry, 42(4), 657-675.
Along with much other literature, all of this would suggest the value of continuing to examine religiosity but considering its different meanings by age, gender, migration status, ethnicity, and specific religious background.