Religions 2018, 9(1), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9010015
Religious Orientation and Its Relationship to Suicidality: A Study in One of the Least Religious Countries
Bob Lew 1,†, Jenny Huen 2,†, Lu Yuan 3
, Steven Stack 4, Thambu Maniam 5, Paul Yip 2,6, Jie Zhang 7,8 and Cun-xian Jia 3,7,*
, Steven Stack 4, Thambu Maniam 5, Paul Yip 2,6, Jie Zhang 7,8 and Cun-xian Jia 3,7,*
1
Department of Social Psychology, Faculty of Human Ecology, Putra University of Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
2
Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
3
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Shandong University & Shandong University Centre for Suicide Prevention Research, 44 Wenhuaxi Roas, Jinan 250012, China
4
Department of Criminal Justice, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
5
The Mind Faculty, Kuala Lumpur 50480
6
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
7
Shandong University Center for Suicide Prevention Research, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China
8
Department of Sociology, State University of New York Buffalo State, Buffalo, New York, NY 14222, USA
â€
Co-first authors.
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 15 November 2017 / Revised: 23 December 2017 / Accepted: 3 January 2018 / Published: 7 January 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Suicide Prevention, Religion and Spirituality)
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Abstract
The relationship between religious orientation and suicidality can be more complex in samples of low religious rate. The present study was conducted in China, one of the least religious countries, with the purpose of exploring different aspects of religious orientation and their relationships to suicidality. Among a university sample of 2074 respondents, 122 respondents reported being religious and responded to our measures of religious orientation and suicidality. Extrinsic religious orientation, while being distinct from intrinsic religious orientation, could be subdivided into personally-oriented and socially-oriented dimensions to predict suicidality in our sample. Results from regression analysis showed that respondents with higher intrinsic religious orientation and lower personally-oriented extrinsic religious orientation are more likely to have lower suicidality. These findings support that intrinsic orientation is embodied with positive outcomes whereas extrinsic orientation is embodied with negative outcomes. It is noteworthy that socially-oriented extrinsic religious orientation did not predict suicidality in our sample, as it was speculated that the role of socially-oriented extrinsic religious orientation cannot function when there are few religious people to socialize with in the community. View Full-TextKeywords:
religious orientation; suicidality; suicide prevention
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
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Lew, B.; Huen, J.; Yuan, L.; Stack, S.; Maniam, T.; Yip, P.; Zhang, J.; Jia, C.-X. Religious Orientation and Its Relationship to Suicidality: A Study in One of the Least Religious Countries. Religions 2018, 9, 15.
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