Religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in China: A cross-sectional study across six provinces.

<h4>Background</h4>Several past studies indicated that religious beliefs, orientation, and practice are protective of suicide. Findings from recent studies in China suggest that religiosity may contribute to increased suicidality. However, few studies have examined the associations betwe...

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Autores principales:	Bob Lew, Kairi Kõlves, Jie Zhang, Wang Zhizhong, Harold G Koenig, Paul S F Yip, Mansor Abu Talib, Augustine Osman, Ching Sin Siau, Caryn Mei Hsien Chan
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/3dd80be10edd47f6bd7eb3020b904e0b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:3dd80be10edd47f6bd7eb3020b904e0b2021-11-25T06:19:07ZReligious affiliation and suicidality among college students in China: A cross-sectional study across six provinces.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0251698https://doaj.org/article/3dd80be10edd47f6bd7eb3020b904e0b2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251698https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>Several past studies indicated that religious beliefs, orientation, and practice are protective of suicide. Findings from recent studies in China suggest that religiosity may contribute to increased suicidality. However, few studies have examined the associations between religious affiliation across different faiths and suicidality in China.<h4>Objective</h4>The current study examines the association between religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in six provinces in China.<h4>Methods</h4>We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 11,407 college students from six universities in Ningxia, Shandong, Shanghai, Jilin, Qinghai, and Shaanxi. We collected the data between October 2017 and March 2018 using self-report questionnaires. They included self-report measures of depression, psychache, hopelessness, self-esteem, social support, and life purpose.<h4>Results</h4>Participants with a Christian affiliation had 1.5 times (95% CI: 1.14, 1.99, p = 0.004) higher odds of indicating an elevated suicide risk, 3.1 times (95% CI: 1.90, 5.04, p<0.001) higher odds of indicating a previous suicide attempt, and increased overall suicidality (B = 0.105, p < 0.001) after accounting for demographic and risk/protective factors. Christians also scored the highest in depression, psychache, hopelessness, and the lowest social support, self-esteem, and purpose in life. Muslims reported decreased suicidality (B = -0.034, p = 0.031). Buddhism/Daoism yielded non-significant results in the multivariate analyses.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Christian college students reported increased suicidality levels, perhaps due to public policies on religion. The decreased suicidality levels among Muslims may be attributed to higher perceived social support. The associations between religious affiliation and suicidality, depression, and hopelessness contrast sharply with US samples. This finding may be influenced by interactions between the religious denomination, individual, and social/political factors. This conclusion includes the possibility of anti-religious discrimination, which this paper did not investigate as a possible mediator and therefore remains a conjecture worthy of future investigation.Bob LewKairi KõlvesJie ZhangWang ZhizhongHarold G KoenigPaul S F YipMansor Abu TalibAugustine OsmanChing Sin SiauCaryn Mei Hsien ChanPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 5, p e0251698 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Bob Lew Kairi Kõlves Jie Zhang Wang Zhizhong Harold G Koenig Paul S F Yip Mansor Abu Talib Augustine Osman Ching Sin Siau Caryn Mei Hsien Chan Religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in China: A cross-sectional study across six provinces.
description	<h4>Background</h4>Several past studies indicated that religious beliefs, orientation, and practice are protective of suicide. Findings from recent studies in China suggest that religiosity may contribute to increased suicidality. However, few studies have examined the associations between religious affiliation across different faiths and suicidality in China.<h4>Objective</h4>The current study examines the association between religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in six provinces in China.<h4>Methods</h4>We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 11,407 college students from six universities in Ningxia, Shandong, Shanghai, Jilin, Qinghai, and Shaanxi. We collected the data between October 2017 and March 2018 using self-report questionnaires. They included self-report measures of depression, psychache, hopelessness, self-esteem, social support, and life purpose.<h4>Results</h4>Participants with a Christian affiliation had 1.5 times (95% CI: 1.14, 1.99, p = 0.004) higher odds of indicating an elevated suicide risk, 3.1 times (95% CI: 1.90, 5.04, p<0.001) higher odds of indicating a previous suicide attempt, and increased overall suicidality (B = 0.105, p < 0.001) after accounting for demographic and risk/protective factors. Christians also scored the highest in depression, psychache, hopelessness, and the lowest social support, self-esteem, and purpose in life. Muslims reported decreased suicidality (B = -0.034, p = 0.031). Buddhism/Daoism yielded non-significant results in the multivariate analyses.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Christian college students reported increased suicidality levels, perhaps due to public policies on religion. The decreased suicidality levels among Muslims may be attributed to higher perceived social support. The associations between religious affiliation and suicidality, depression, and hopelessness contrast sharply with US samples. This finding may be influenced by interactions between the religious denomination, individual, and social/political factors. This conclusion includes the possibility of anti-religious discrimination, which this paper did not investigate as a possible mediator and therefore remains a conjecture worthy of future investigation.
format	article
author	Bob Lew Kairi Kõlves Jie Zhang Wang Zhizhong Harold G Koenig Paul S F Yip Mansor Abu Talib Augustine Osman Ching Sin Siau Caryn Mei Hsien Chan
author_facet	Bob Lew Kairi Kõlves Jie Zhang Wang Zhizhong Harold G Koenig Paul S F Yip Mansor Abu Talib Augustine Osman Ching Sin Siau Caryn Mei Hsien Chan
author_sort	Bob Lew
title	Religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in China: A cross-sectional study across six provinces.
title_short	Religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in China: A cross-sectional study across six provinces.
title_full	Religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in China: A cross-sectional study across six provinces.
title_fullStr	Religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in China: A cross-sectional study across six provinces.
title_full_unstemmed	Religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in China: A cross-sectional study across six provinces.
title_sort	religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in china: a cross-sectional study across six provinces.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/3dd80be10edd47f6bd7eb3020b904e0b
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Religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in China: A cross-sectional study across six provinces.

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