What effect does religion have in the life of a young person? Does it lessen pain or worsen it?
More and more middle-school, high school, and college-aged youth are committing suicide, often spurred by negative (or negligent) influences. Sometimes these same influences lead a young person to engage in sexual activity. Could ideas about sexual behavior be a matter of life or death?
Religious young people may have the tools to handle life circumstances without suicide. But Sexual behavior and suicide could be inversely related among Christian young people. That is, the more one accepts religious principles and the stronger he feels about his ability to handle sex, the more likely he is to end his life. But why?
(1) Is suicide associated with one's total belief in the Sacred Scriptures?
(2) Does a young person's perceptions of sex impact that association?
Protestant and Catholic adolescents (n=6022) were taken from the public-access version of the first wave of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health.
This survey is a nationally representative study of adolescents (grades seven to twelve) in the United States. This data was collected in the 1994-95 school year.
The question "During the past 12 months, did you actually attempt suicide?" is answered with the number of attempts.
The questions regarding suicide were self-administered, using audio CASI (computer-assisted self-interviewing) to reduce external interference or influence.
Questions concerning health-protective measures were asked only to those aged fifteen and older.
Among Christian adolescents, profession of Born-Again Christianity was split around 50-50 (51.81% said no; 48.19% said yes).
Nearly 80% of the sample professed total belief in the sacred Scriptures.
A little over 16% of Christian adolescents attempted suicide at least once in the past year; 72% never attempted suicide.
Nearly 51% of young people perceived themselves as capable of stopping to take birth control measures once highly aroused.
Looking at the relationship between the number of suicide attempts in the past year (quantitative response variable) and profession of total belief in the sacred Scriptures (categorical explanatory variable), an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed more suicidal attempts in the past year among those who professed full faith in the sacred writings (Mean=0.55, s.d. ±1.22) versus those who did not profess to believe the Scriptures fully (Mean=0.46, s.d. ±1.12). But the probability value is not statistically significant. F(1, 577)=0.67, p=0.4150. There is no solid relationship between the two variables, at least in this sample.
The association between number of suicide attempts and the perceived ability to stop for birth control measures once aroused has no statistical significance: F(4, 535)=0.27, p=0.8965.
Furthermore, the relationship between number of suicide attempts and professing to be a Born-Again Christian is also statistically insignificant as F(1, 408)=0.85, p=0.3584.
Neither profession of Born-Again Christianity nor perceived ability to stop once aroused moderated or impacted the relationship between faith in the sacred Scriptures and number of attempted suicides in the past year (each had probability values greater than 0.05).
Instead, those who thought the most highly of their ability to stop sexual activity once aroused moderated the rate of suicide attempts among those with total belief in the sacred Scriptures: p=0.0317. My p value (probability value) is less than 0.05, indicating statistical significance.
Those who both believed highly in their ability to stop in a state of arousal and had total belief in the sacred Scriptures were more likely to attempt suicide (Mean=0.7326) than those with the same level of confidence and no belief in the sacred Scriptures (Mean=0.3033).
ANOVA results for "number of suicide attempts" by "faith in sacred Scriptures" moderated by "stopping sexual activity once aroused" (with Duncan post hoc test results).
Visual representation of the above results
Statistically, these results reveal no relationship between attempted suicide and two of faith's most fundamental principles  - profession and acceptance (Romans 10:8-9).
There appears to be some association between faith and suicide among young people who are confident of their ability to control themselves while in an aroused state; and those youth make up 50% of my sample.
This research is based on a nationally representative study of adolescents who are either Protestant or Catholic and who have attempted suicide.
The AddHealth survey (Wave I) was conducted in the 1994-95 school year. Â The dynamics and the responses may be different now, over ten years later.
 The sample of young people who both are Christians and have attempted suicide is minimal (n=757): a larger sample would provide for better research.
Also, measuring the depth of religious experience would provide more sound data, and answer some questions about why Christian young people are choosing suicide.
My most prominent research question is this: Is there any statistically significant data which answers the cause (or at least the observational cause) for such a high rate of suicide among Bible-believing Christian young people?
Moderated by "Born-Again Christianity"
Moderated by "Perceived Ability to Stop Sexual Activity in an Aroused State"
amandla
kianamaiart
germansingergirl
dailybridgerton