Catholic Religion and Suicide: the Mediating Effect of Divorce

The effects of religion & divorce on suicide rates are examined for metropolitan areas in 1980. The authors find that the role of Catholic church membership has both direct & indirect effects on suicide rates; the indirect effects are mediated through the divorce rate. In contrast, argue the authors, Protestant church membership is not related statistically to suicide. These results suggests that although total church membership is negatively related to suicide, denominational effects remain important.