The Protective Nature of Religiosity Against Suicidal Ideation in African-Americans

Abstract

This systematic review was conducted to examine if religiosity has a protective role against suicidal ideation (SI) in African-Americans. Articles from PUBMED involving religiosity, SI, and African-Americans were sorted and analyzed. These articles were screened on exclusion and inclusion criteria, yielding 11 articles. Higher religiosity was strongly correlated with lower instances of SI in the African-American population. In 10 of the 11 analyzed articles, religiosity was protective against SI. In seven of these, the effect was statistically significant. Intrinsic religiosity was shown to be more protective than extrinsic. In African-Americans, religiosity was strongly correlated with lower SI. The strength of this effect varied with intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, as well as with women and men, and with differing ages. Therefore, more studies should be done on each population group specifically. This would reveal more of the intricacies of the protective effects religiosity has shown on SI.