Is religiosity a protective factor against attempted suicide: a cross-cultural case-control study.

Journal: Archives of suicide research : official journal of the International Academy for Suicide Research

Volume: 14

Issue: 1

Year of Publication: 2010

Affiliated Institutions:  Estonian-Swedish Mental Health and Suicidology Institute, Tallinn, Estonia. merike.sisask@neti.ee

Abstract summary 

This cross-cultural study investigates whether religiosity assessed in three dimensions has a protective effect against attempted suicide. Community controls (n = 5484) were more likely than suicide attempters (n = 2819) to report religious denomination in Estonia (OR = 0.5) and subjective religiosity in four countries: Brazil (OR = 0.2), Estonia (OR = 0.5), Islamic Republic of Iran (OR = 0.6), and Sri Lanka (OR = 0.4). In South Africa, the effect was exceptional both for religious denomination (OR = 5.9) and subjective religiosity (OR = 2.7). No effects were found in India and Vietnam. Organizational religiosity gave controversial results. In particular, subjective religiosity (considering him/herself as religious person) may serve as a protective factor against non-fatal suicidal behavior in some cultures.

Authors & Co-authors:  Sisask Merike M Varnik Airi A Kolves Kairi K Bertolote Jose M JM Bolhari Jafar J Botega Neury J NJ Fleischmann Alexandra A Vijayakumar Lakshmi L Wasserman Danuta D

Study Outcome 

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Statistics
Citations : 
Authors :  9
Identifiers
Doi : 10.1080/13811110903479052
SSN : 1543-6136
Study Population
Male,Female
Mesh Terms
Attitude to Health
Other Terms
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Country of Study
South Africa
Publication Country
England