It has long been recognized that the intermountain area of the United States — Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico — has a higher suicide rate than the rest of the country, in what has been labeled the "suicide belt." The reasons for this are not entirely clear, though numerous theories have been advanced.

The critics also do not tell us that of these high-risk states, Utah has one of the lowest suicide rates: Wyoming , Montana , Nevada , New Mexico , Colorado and Idaho consistently have higher rates of suicide than does Utah .

Critics hope that by condemning Utah , readers will condemn the LDS Church by association.

However, government studies on suicide rates do not cite religion or spiritual beliefs. One cannot extrapolate from these data and presume that the LDS population is the "reason" for the higher suicide rates. Since the suicide rates are lower than the surrounding northwestern states, one could just as easily conclude that the LDS Church protects against suicide!

Critics also ignore that religion is generally a protective factor against suicide; religions provide both social support for people who are struggling, and religious beliefs which condemn suicide can be a disincentive to acting on suicidal thoughts.

Studies of "high religious groups" (including LDS) have shown benefits for emotional maturity, self-esteem, and lower depression rates. Studies of countries with high levels of religious belief have shown a correlation with lower rates of suicide.

Latter-day Saints and Suicide

Some studies of LDS patients and non-LDS patients have shown no differences in the rate of suicidality based on being homemakers and working outside the home. Suicide rates in LDS patients went down as their religious involvement went up.

Inactive LDS males experience a suicide rate roughly four times that of active LDS males. Non-LDS males experience a suicide rate roughly six times that of active LDS males.

This same research shows that although active LDS males, aged 15-19, have an equal suicide rate to that of national rates, U.S. white males (aged 20-34) had suicide rates two and one-half to seven times that of active LDS males of equal age.

Since many of the critics who attack the Church on this issue are conservative Evangelical protestants, it is perhaps fair to ask how well Evangelicals fare on measures of mental health when the same shoddy methodology is applied to them.

Each suicide is a tragedy, but these relatively small figures of the data demonstrate how cautious we must be creating "single cause" models of a complex phenomenon like suicide, since small shifts in numbers can markedly affect rates.

It is far more likely, that (as with Utah ) the higher-than-average suicide rates of the thirteen predominantly Evangelical states are due to factors that they share with the intermountain west. And, just as active membership in the LDS faith is protective against suicide, so too membership in conservative Christian denominations likely has similar psychological benefits.

Conclusion

It is unfortunate that critics wish to trivialize a serious problem such as suicide — a leading cause of death in the United States — by using it as a club to beat a specific religion. They do this without any data implicating the Church, and much data which argues against the patients' religion as a causative factor.

The full FAIR wiki article, including all scriptural and academic references, may be accessed at http://en.fairmormon.org/Suicide_rate_among_Mormons

If you have any topic or question you would like to see addressed pleased contact Carolyn Wright at http://www.fairlds.org/contact.php Just check the box for the Meridian Article Editor.