The DOI matches its Crossref record; 100 of the 100 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Religion and Suicide Risk: A Systematic Review
Open accessAbstract
Although religion is reported to be protective against suicide, the empirical evidence is inconsistent. Research is complicated by the fact that there are many dimensions to religion (affiliation, participation, doctrine) and suicide (ideation, attempt, completion). We systematically reviewed the literature on religion and suicide over the last 10 years (89 articles) with a goal of identifying what specific dimensions of religion are associated with specific aspects of suicide. We found that religious affiliation does not necessarily protect against suicidal ideation, but does protect against suicide attempts. Whether religious affiliation protects against suicide attempts may depend on the culture-specific implications of affiliating with a particular religion, since minority religious groups can feel socially isolated. After adjusting for social support measures, religious service attendance is not especially protective against suicidal ideation, but does protect against suicide attempts, and possibly protects against suicide. Future qualitative studies might further clarify these associations.
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“Some protective or resilience factors can help prevent suicide and people recovering following an attempt. These factors include having a reason to live, and hope, developing positive coping strategies, providing supportive environments, promoting healthy cultural and religious beliefs [8, 13, 14].”
From Exploring the role of religion in the recovery experiences of suicide attempt survivors in Ghana (2023) · cites this paper as [8]
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“Religious affiliation however has been found to protect against suicide attempts but not against suicidal ideation [8].”
From Exploring the role of religion in the recovery experiences of suicide attempt survivors in Ghana (2023) · cites this paper as [8]
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“Religious affiliation of any type has been reported to be protective against suicide, but this has not been shown for minority religious groups, which may be socially isolated.30”
From Suicide (2020) · cites this paper as [30]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Lawrence, R. E., Oquendo, M. A., & Stanley, B.
- Affiliations
- NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital (US)
- Columbia University Irving Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lawrence, Ryan E.
- ORCID
- Lawrence, Ryan E.
- Venue
- Archives of Suicide Research
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-07-20
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-21
- ISSN
- 1381-1118 (ISSN-L)
- 1543-6136
- PMC
- PMC7310534
- OpenAlex
- W1031503832
- Cited by
- 390
- References
- 99
- Citations by year
- 2026: 30 · 2025: 62 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 65 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 52 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 3
- FWCI
- 1.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Archives of Suicide Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- NIH Office of the Director (R01MH061017 (to BS))
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (P50 MH090964 (to MAO))
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Religion and Society Interactions
- Keywords
- religion, suicide risk, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, religious affiliation, religious service attendance, religious participation, social isolation, social support, protective factors
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Minority Groups, Religion, Religion and Psychology, Risk Factors, Social Isolation, Social Support, Suicide, Suicide, Attempted, Spirituality, Suicidal Ideation, Protective Factors
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