Citation

Kay WK, Francis LJ. Ment. Health Relig. Cult. 2006; 9(2): 127-140.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13694670500071745

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

After considering suicide from four theoretical perspectives - sociology, psychology, social-psychology and theology - a database of 33,135 young individuals (aged 13-15) in England and Wales was interrogated to discover whether churchgoing provides protection against suicidal ideation. Following the Durkheimian notion that suicide is associated with social isolation and making use of the Eysenckian three-dimensional model of personality, analysis indicated a statistically significant protection offered by churchgoing. Further analysis concentrated on vulnerable pupils. In this instance, vulnerable pupils are those who have been bereaved by the loss of at least one parent. After taking personality variations into account, church attendance is shown to offer significant protection against suicide, while the protective effects of team sports are insignificant. © 2006 Taylor & Francis.

Language: en

Keywords

adolescent; human; female; male; United Kingdom; suicidal ideation; psychosis; sport; risk assessment; social isolation; risk factor; article; major clinical study; controlled study; questionnaire; statistical analysis; school child; human relation; neurosis; social psychology; geographic distribution; social aspect; statistical significance; religion; health survey; risk reduction; population distribution