Religion and the risk of suicide: longitudinal study of over 1million people

BackgroundDurkheim's seminal historical study demonstrated that religiousaffiliation reduces suicide risk, but it is unclear whether thisprotective effect persists in modern, more secular societies.AimsTo examine suicide risk according to Christian religious affiliation andby inference to exami...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of psychiatry 2015-06, Vol.206 (6), p.466-470
Main Authors: O'Reilly, Dermot, Rosato, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcohol
Alcohol use
Catholics
Censuses
Christianity
Christians
Church attendance
Classification
Criminal statistics
Drinking behavior
Durkheim, Emile (1858-1917)
Longitudinal studies
Membership
Mortality
Population
Protestants
Psychiatry
Religion
Religiosity
Religious identity
Risk
Suicide
Suicides & suicide attempts
Young adults
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Summary:BackgroundDurkheim's seminal historical study demonstrated that religiousaffiliation reduces suicide risk, but it is unclear whether thisprotective effect persists in modern, more secular societies.AimsTo examine suicide risk according to Christian religious affiliation andby inference to examine underlying mechanisms for suicide risk. If churchattendance is important, risk should be lowest for Roman Catholics andhighest for those with no religion; if religiosity is important, then‘conservative’ Christians should fare best.MethodA 9-year study followed 1 106 104 people aged 16–74 years at the 2001 UKcensus, using Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for census-basedcohort attributes.ResultsIn fully adjusted models analysing 1119 cases of suicide, RomanCatholics, Protestants and those professing no religion recorded similarrisks. The risk associated with conservative Christians was lower thanthat for Catholics (HR = 0.71, 95% CI 0.52–0.97).ConclusionsThe relationship between religious affiliation and suicide established byDurkheim may not pertain in societies where suicide rates are highest atyounger ages. Risks are similar for those with and without a religiousaffiliation, and Catholics (who traditionally are characterised by higherlevels of church attendance) do not demonstrate lower risk of suicide.However, religious affiliation is a poor measure of religiosity, exceptfor a small group of conservative Christians, although their lower riskof suicide may be attributable to factors such as lower risk behaviourand alcohol consumption.
ISSN:0007-1250
1472-1465
DOI:10.1192/bjp.bp.113.128694