A Study on the Correlation between the Church and Suicide Rates in Utah

[jlamothe]

I recently came across this article regarding suicide in Utah.

https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-fa ... elp-224095

It comes from the church newsroom/BYU so I take it with a grain of salt, but I don't want to simply ad hominem it away.

It makes the following statement:

Goodman and the other researchers gathered information from seven data sets, from the Centers for Disease Control, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Religion Census, BYU’s Geospatial Center Data and others, and looked at 1,500 counties nationwide to study suicidality. “We learned really quickly that we had to separate out the suicide belt from the non-suicide belt because they didn’t behave the same.”

Taking data from the Church, they looked at how many Latter-day Saint congregations were in a given county and compared that to suicide rates.

“The area with by far the strongest Church presence has by far the lower suicide rates.”

In Utah, the number of youth ages 10-17 who experienced suicidal ideation or had made suicide attempts, was less than half for Latter-day Saints.

Has this been peer reviewed? Can anyone either corroborate or refute this claim?

[drumdude]

The literature I found pointed out that suicides in this country are highest in the mountain states around Utah. It's been theorized to have something to do with the altitude.

I do think that the high overall suicide rate sometimes gets conflated with the specific LGBT youth suicide rate. They are two separate categories.

[jlamothe]

The literature I found pointed out that suicides in this country are highest in the mountain states around Utah. It's been theorized to have something to do with the altitude.

I do think that the high overall suicide rate sometimes gets conflated with the specific LGBT youth suicide rate. They are two separate categories.

I have heard that the altitude has been suspected to have something to do with it. Still, I found the claim that the suicide rates are lower where there is a stronger church presence to be interesting. I wanted to know specifically if that was true/verifiable.

[Res Ipsa]

Here’s one study that appears to support the claim. https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/155/5/413/171404

[Res Ipsa]

Here’s one study that appears to support the claim. https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/155/5/413/171404

And another. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/vie ... text=byusq

And a survey article from Dialog that focuses on LGBT suicide. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.540 ... a6f612e7c3

[Moksha]

It has been the contention of the MD&D board that there is no correlation between any LDS stance and youth suicide. It is also the practice of LDS-related research to first pick a conclusion and then to justify it.

[Res Ipsa]

It has been the contention of the MD&D board that there is no correlation between any LDS stance and youth suicide. It is also the practice of LDS-related research to first pick a conclusion and then to justify it.

I’m looking through the literature on the subject, one of the important factors in suicide prevention is the degree to which the person feels connected to others. As religion typically creates a sense of community, religion is shown to be generally protective against suicide.

The LDS Church is not an exception, which should come as no surprise. With respect to the specific case of LGBT youth, the important question is how connected they feel to their community or communities. It’s their perception that is important — more important that the objective “truth.”

People are complicated, and I don’t think we should be surprised at the notion that things we say can have good and bad impacts, depending on context.

[drumdude]

People are complicated, and I don’t think we should be surprised at the notion that things we say can have good and bad impacts, depending on context.

This. Also, we don't need to prove that the church is causing more LGBT suicides to make the argument that the church is wrong on LGBT. Suicides are not the only negative outcome from the church's policies.

[doubtingthomas]

Still, I found the claim that the suicide rates are lower where there is a stronger church presence to be interesting.

Is the study taking into account economics? High-income Mormon families tend to go to church more.

[doubtingthomas]

As religion typically creates a sense of community, religion is shown to be generally protective against suicide.

Religion and wealth.