Is Religiosity a Protective Factor Against Attempted Suicide: A Cross-Cultural Case-Control Study

Abstract

This cross-cultural study investigates whether religiosity assessed in three dimensions has a protective effect against attempted suicide. Community controls (n¼5484) were more likely than suicide attempters (n¼2819) to report religious denomination in Estonia (OR¼0.5) and subjective religiosity in four countries: Brazil (OR¼0.2), Estonia (OR¼0.5), Islamic Republic of Iran (OR¼0.6), and Sri Lanka (OR¼0.4). In South Africa, the effect was exceptional both for religious denomination (OR¼5.9) and subjective religiosity (OR¼2.7). No effects were found in India and Vietnam. Organizational religiosity gave controversial results. In particular, subjective religiosity (considering him=herself as religious person) may serve as a protective factor against non-fatal suicidal behavior in some cultures.