Prospective prediction of suicide in a nationally representative sample: religious service attendance as a protective factor

Abstract

BackgroundPrevious research into religious service attendance as a protective factor against suicide has been conducted only retrospectively, with psychological autopsy studies using proxy informants of completed suicide, rather than prospectively, with completed suicide as a dependent variable.AimsTo determine whether individuals who frequently attended religious services were less likely to die by suicide than those who did not attend so frequently.MethodWe analysed data from a nationally representative sample (n = 20 014), collected in the USA between 1988 and 1994, and follow-up mortality data from baseline to the end of 2006.ResultsCox proportional hazard regression analysis indicated that those who frequently attended religious services were less likely to die by suicide than those who did not attend, after accounting for the effects of other relevant risk factors.ConclusionsFrequent religious service attendance is a long-term protective factor against suicide.