Religious Beliefs of Suicidal Patients
Religious affiliation has not proven to be a particularly useful variable in the prediction of suicide despite the numerous reports of diiferential frequencies of suicide among religious groups. It was proposed that a more crucial determinant of suicide might be the extent o f an individual's active involvement with any given system of religious beliefs. The present study was done to determine whether differences exist in the religious beliefs of suicide artempters and matched controls. Ss were 20 hospitalized neuropsychiatric patients who had made at least one suicide attempt and 2 0 patients with no known suicidal ideation or behavior. Attempters were under observation for indications of suicidal intention. They were matched with conrrols for race, age, marital status, and religion, with 12 Protestants, 7 Catholics, and 1 Jew in each group. Matching and the securing of demographic data was done by a person other than the interviewer, who was blind to the sratus of the patients being interviewed. Mean age of attempters ( A ) was 38.8 yr. ( S D = 8.79), and mean age of controls ( C ) was 39.7 (SD = 8.5). Mean years of school completed was 12.7 ( S D = 2.54) for A and 12.0 (SD = 2.62) for C. Ss were seen individually; a standard interview schedule was followed. Question content areas, response categories and response frequencies follow. Frequencies for C are in parentheses: Currently active member of church or s y n a g o g u e yes: 3 ( 9 ) ; no: 1 7 ( 1 1 ) . Belief there is a G o r d y e s : 1 8 ( 1 7 ) ; no: l ( 2 ) ; DK:= l ( 1 ) . Parents religious-Mother, yes: 13 ( 1 4 ) ; no: 6 ( 5 ) ; DK: 1 (1); Father, yes: 7 ( 9 ) ; no: 1 2 ( 9 ) ; D K : l ( 2 ) . First memory of anything dying-family: 1 3 ( 1 2 ) ; friend: O ( 2 ) ; animal: 5 ( 4 ) ; other: 2 ( 2 ) . Most impressive Bible story-involved death: 3 ( 3 ) ; no death: 1 1 ( 14) ; none: 6 ( 3 ) . Childhood belief abouc what happens aftel d e a t h a f t e r l i f e involved: 1 3 ( 1 0 ) ; no afterlife: 2 ( 5 ) ; no memory: 2 ( 4 ) ; other: 3 ( 1 ) . Belief in 10 Commandments-yes: 13 ( 1 8 ) ; no: 2 ( 0 ) ; maybe: 3 ( 2 ) ; other: 2 ( 0 ) . "Thou s h a l ~ not kill pertains to s u i c i d e y e s : 12 ( 1 0 ) ; no: 6 ( 8 ) ; maybe: 2 ( 2 ) . Suicide a sin--yes: l l ( l 5 ) ; no: 7 ( 4 ) ; D K : 2 ( 1 ) . If porsiblyasin, what punishment-Hell: 8 ( 8 ) ; none: 2 ( 3 ) ; D K : 3 ( 3 ) ; other: l ( 2 ) . Would suicidal persons pray-yes: 9 ( 8 ) ; no: 9 ( 9 ) ; maybe: O ( 2 ) ; D K : 2 ( 1 ) ; if so, for what? forgiveness: l ( 4 ) ; help: 6 ( 4 ) ; D K : 2 ( 1 ) ; other: l ( 1 ) . 1VhatSJsrel igionsaysof suicide-sin: 1 2 ( 1 4 ) ; D K : 5 ( 3 ) ; other: 3 ( 3 ) . What parents would think aborrt suicide-against: 1 2 ( 1 4 ) ; sympathetic: l ( 1 ) ; D K : l ( 6 ) ; other: 6 ( 2 ) . IVhat S would tell a child happens to person a6 death-after-life: 1 5 ( 1 5 ) ; none: 3 ( 3 ) ; D K : l ( 0 ) ; other: l ( 2 ) . X' tests yielded no statistically significant differences between groups in response frequencies for any question. Ss in both groups who said they were currently inactive in religion indicated that they became inactive ar various ages and for similar reasons. Arrempters showed neither greater nor lesser active involvement than controls with the formal tenets of their religion. Evidence did nor suggest that beliefs o r involvements of suicide attempters differ from those of other persons of similar religious affiliation starus.