The Effect of Religion on Suicide

An Analysis of Cultural Context

Bibliographic Data

ID13629974
AuthorsIra Wasserman (0000-0001-6618-6096, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan, corresponding author), Stack (0000-0002-1312-9773, Wayne State University), Steven Stack (Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan)
Year1993
Volume27
Issue4
Pages295-305
Publication date1993-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueOMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0030-2228 • E-ISSN: 1541-3764
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2190/v64t-8ncf-hlex-u04r
OpenAlexW2124284193
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited19

Research on the impact of religion has been marked by a recurrent flaw: the failure to analyze the greater social context of religion. The present study addresses this by inspecting the impact of Catholicism on suicide in two socio-culturally different regions in the state of Louisiana. A multiple regression analysis of county suicide rates, however, finds no evidence for a contextual effect. Catholicism does not reduce suicide in the historically French Catholic, southern region of the state, and it does not increase suicide in the historically Anglo-Saxon, Protestant northern region of the state. The results tend to question the religious networks and religious integration perspectives

Archaeology · Context (archaeology · Criminology · Environmental health · Poison control · Political science · Protestantism · Sociology · State (computer science · Suicide prevention · Suicide rates · History · Law · Medicine · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Religious studies · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies