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Letter to the editor: Suicide and Mormon culture
(2006)
  • Kevin J Black
Abstract

(Unpublished response to a story in the [Salt Lake City] Deseret News titled "Some say LDS culture is a factor in suicides.") ... The facts do not at all support the idea that "LDS culture" raises the suicide rate. In fact, the facts suggest that active participation in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may be a strong preventive factor in the fight against suicide. ... We cannot definitively conclude from available evidence that conversion or increased contact with "Mormon culture" actually prevents suicide, but at least it is a hypothesis that fits the data. ...

Keywords
  • suicide,
  • religion,
  • religion and psychology,
  • culture,
  • epidemiology
Publication Date
May 11, 2006
Comments

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

25 Aug 2014: For an updated review of the protective effect in general of religiosity, see Koenig HG: Religion, spirituality, and health: the research and clinical implications. ISRN Psychiatry 2012:278730.

A study from Tel Aviv recently added data from Jewish adolescents.

Citation Information
Kevin J. Black: "Letter to the editor: Suicide and Mormon culture." 11 May 2006. Available at: http://works.bepress.com/kjb/27