According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) (Substance Abuse and Mental Health

Services Administration [ SAMHSA ], 2012, 2014, 2015), there has been a consistent trend in
female adults aged 18 to 25 years with a higher level of suicidal behaviors like ideation, preparation, and
attempt. The risk of suicide-related death among teenagers aged 15 to 19 (8.71 per 100,000) continues
to increase to 14.16 per 100,000 (22.87, males and 5.01, females) among young adults aged 20 to 24
(CDC, 2014) (Kim & Burlaka, 2018);

Kim, Y. J., & Burlaka , V. (2018). Gender Differences in Suicidal Behaviors: Mediation Role of
Psychological Distress Between Alcohol Abuse/Dependence and Suicidal Behaviors . Retrieved from
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=941c7654-3c6b-452b-bd25-
fc154bad0447@sdc-v-sessmgr02

Individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) are another
demographic and sociocultural community at increased risk of suicide. While there is limited research,
many lines of analysis show that people in the LGBTQ community are at higher risk of suicidal behavior
relative to their heterosexual peers(Chakraborty et al. 2011; Savin-Williams and Ream 2003; Scourfield
et al. 2008). For example, Stone et al. (2014), found that sexual minority teenagers were 5-
6 times more likely than their nonsexual minority counterparts to experience suicidal ideation and attem
pts.40% of transgender individuals reported a history of suicide attempts in another survey, compared
with just 4% of the general population (Irwin et al. 2014)(Hirsch et al. 2016).

Hirsch, J. K., Rowe, C. A., Cohn, T. J., & Rimmer, S. E. (2016). Minority Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity
Status and Suicidal Behavior: Serial Indirect Effects of Hope, Hopelessness and Depressive Symptoms.
Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=d82a9f4d-4f61-
4f3d-af1f-0f0b4c87bcc5@sessionmgr4008

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=d82a9f4d-4f61-4f3d-af1f-
0f0b4c87bcc5%40sessionmgr4008
Suicidal behavior is a major public health concern. Suicide is the world's 13th leading cause of death,
which accounts for more than 58,000 deaths a year in Europe. Suicide tends to be a male problem, as
suicide death rates are four to five times higher for men than for women across the EU (Freeman et al.,
2017)

Freeman, A., Mergl, R., Kohls, E., Székely, A., Gusmao, R., Arensman, E., … Rummel-Kluge, C. (2017). A
cross-national study on gender differences in suicide intent. BMC Psychiatry, 17(1). doi: 10.1186/s12888-
017-1398-8

https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-017-1398-8#citeas

religion

The correlation between faith and suicide has long been of concern. Durkheim (1897) noticed and tried
to explain the fact that Protestants had higher rates of suicide than Roman Catholics, whereas Muslims
have been known to have lower rates of suicide than Christians (Lester 2006). A lot of research and
theorization has been conducted about the role of religion, religiosity and spirituality in increasing the
risk of suicidal behavior versus serving as a preventive mechanism for suicidal behaviour. (Introduction,
2017)

The association of religion and suicide has long been of interest. Durkheim (1897) noted and tried to
explain the fact that Protestants have higher suicide rates than Roman Catholics, while it has long been
known that Muslims have lower suicide rates than Christians (Lester 2006). There has been a great deal
of research and theorizing about the role of religion, religiosity, and spirituality in increasing the risk of
suicidal behavior versus acting as a protective factor for suicidal behavior. (Lester, 2017)

Lester, D. (2017). Does Religiosity Predict Suicidal Behavior? Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320742143_Does_Religiosity_Predict_Suicidal_Behavior
A well-established regularity in suicidology is that the rates of suicidal behaviore show large intersocietal
variation (Värnik, 2012). The main research variable in this study, religion, has also usually been
assumed to be related to the intersocietal variation of suicidal behaviors (Bertolote, & Fleischmann,
2015). For instance, low suicide rates in persons affiliating with Islam and in nations with predominantly
Muslim populations are attributed either to the explicit condemnation of suicide by Islamic scripture
(Lester, 2006; Shah, & Chandia, 2010) or to underreporting (Pritchard, & Amanullah, 2007). All religions
have explicit or implicit sanctions against self-killing with varying degrees of severity (Nelson, Hanna,
Houri, & Klimes-Dougan, 2012) (Eskin et al., 2019).

A well-established regularity in suicidology is that there are significant intersocietal differences in

suicidal activity patterns (Värnik, 2012). In this analysis, the main research component, faith, was also
generally assumed to be linked to the intersocietal variability in suicidal behaviors (Bertolote &
Fleischmann, 2015). For example, low suicide rates in Islamic allies and nations with predominantly
Muslim communities are due either to the Islamic scripture's clear prohibition of suicide (Lester, 2006;
Shah & Chandia, 2010) or to underreporting (Pritchard & Amanullah, 2007). All religions have explicit or
implicit prohibitions of varying degrees of severity against self-murder (Nelson, Hanna, Houri, & Klimes-
Dougan, 2012) (Eskin et al., 2019).

https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/18123/1/Article%20Religion.pdf

Eskin, M., Poyrazli, S., Janghorbani, M., Giovanni Carta, M., Tran, U. S., Mechri, A., Hamdan, M.,
Nawafleh, H., Sun, J-M., Flood, C., Yoshimasu, K., Kujan, O., Aidoudi, K., Bakhshi, S., Harlak, H., Moro, M.
F., Khader, Y., Phillips, L., Shaheen, A., Taifour, S., Tsuno, K. and Voracek, M. (2019). The Role of Religion
on Suicidal Behavior, Attitudes and Psychological Distress in University Students: A Multinational Study.
Transcultural Psychiatry, doi: 10.1177/1363461518823933